Morning Star
by Elliriel Galadh-Lithe
Summary: Bella is changed at the time that James attacks in Twilight; Edward arrives too late to reverse the process. She adapts well and joins the Cullen family. In the future the family travels off-world... can they survive the harsh new environment? canon prs
1. Chapter 1

Okay... hello and welcome to my first attempt at public posting of Twilight fan fiction. I wrote this story in November 2008 for National Novel Writing Month, long before I had heard of fanfiction dot net!! Since my discovery, I've been doing a LOT of reading and think I'm finally ready to bare my own small talent and large love of writing.

So here goes! Reviews are very much welcome!! the story is already 'in the can' so to speak but I may tweak it depending on the type of feedback I get...

The first chapter is pretty much a rehashing of chapter 23 from Twilight, with necessary differences... as we progress further along the story will follow roughly the Twilight timeline until graduation, then jump a century ahead... that's right, I said a century...

**Chapter 23 The Angel**

_As I drifted, I dreamed._

_Where I floated, under the dark water, I heard the happiest sound my mind could conjure up – as beautiful, as uplifting, as it was ghastly. It was another snarl; a deeper, wilder roar that rang with fury._

_I was brought back, almost to the surface, by a sharp pain slashing my upraised hand, but I couldn't find my way back far enough to open my eyes._

_And then I knew I was dead._

_Because, through the heavy water, I heard the sound of an angel calling my name, calling me to the only heaven I wanted._

"_Oh, no, Bella, no!" the angel's voice cried in horror._

_Behind that longed-for sound was another noise – an awful tumult that my mind shied away from. A vicious bass growling, a shocking snapping sound, and a high keening, suddenly breaking off…_

_I tried to concentrate on the angel's voice instead._

"_Bella, please! Bella, listen to me, please, please, Bella, please!" he begged._

_Yes, I wanted to say. Anything. But I couldn't find my lips._

"_Carlisle!" the angel called, agony in his perfect voice. "Bella, Bella, no, oh please, no, no!" And the angel was sobbing tearless, broken sobs._

_The angel shouldn't weep, it was wrong. I tried to find him, to tell him everything was fine, but the water was so deep, it was pressing on me, and I couldn't breathe._

_There was a point of pressure against my head. It hurt. Then, as that pain broke through the darkness to me, other pains came, stronger pains. I cried out, gasping, breaking through the dark pool._

"_Bella!" the angel cried._

"_She's lost some blood, but the head wound isn't deep," a calm voice informed me. "Watch out for her leg, it's broken."_

_A howl of rage strangled on the angel's lips._

_I felt a sharp stab in my side. This couldn't be heaven, could it? There was too much pain for that._

"_Some ribs, too, I think," the methodical voice continued._

_But the sharp pains were fading. There was a new pain, a scalding pain in my hand that was overshadowing everything else._

_Someone was burning me._

My eyes flew open and locked, unseeing, straight ahead. "It hurts, oh, it hurts," my voice came as a strangled whimper.

"Bella, can you hear me? I love you!" The angel's voice was anguished, so close I thought I could feel his cool breath on my face. Then the voice turned away. "Can't you do anything?"

"My bag, please…" Carlisle asked calmly. Painful moments passed, and then I could feel a new weight bearing down on me. So heavy. My eyes slipped closed again. The scalding pain was still there. I could not move, could not speak, could barely breathe. "I've given her morphine. That should take away the pain."

Then why did I continue to burn alive? The sensation was starting to spread to my arm, enveloping me as I lay there, unable to fight against it, to let anyone know the agony I was in. I couldn't even open my eyes again.

I could feel more pressure on my head, something poking and pulling at my scalp. Carlisle was continuing to work on me. Could he not see that something was horribly wrong? He was distracting the angel from focusing on my quiet, broken form, asking him to get something to brace my leg, having him wrap my ribs securely. Meanwhile, the fire climbed up my arm, entered my chest, spread throughout my whole body, consuming me utterly in its inexorable grip. I was trapped above the dark water, chained to the pyre of my body, sharply aware of every sensation within, every sound around me.

Suddenly, the angel's breath caught sharply. "Carlisle, her hand!" His voice was horrified.

"He bit her." Carlisle's voice was no longer calm, it was appalled.

The angel drew a ragged, terrible breath. "Is it – ?"

Cool fingers felt the pulse by the side of my neck. "Yes, I believe it's already spread too far."

"No!" The howl was piercing. Then the angel was sobbing again, brokenly whispering, "Too late. I was too late."

Carlisle's voice, calm again. "Alice saw this coming. Perhaps it was inevitable."

"I never wanted this for her."

"I know you didn't, son. But it's not the end of the world. We'll get her through this."

"To what end? Her life as she knows it is over. This will kill her family. Not to mention that she will likely hate me for doing this to her."

"You didn't do this. You can't blame yourself."

"If I had not exposed her to that monster in the first place, this never would have happened. I am surely as guilty as if I _had_ done this to her myself."

"Edward, son…" Carlisle voice was anguished now, too. "Don't do this to yourself, please. She's going to need you now more than ever."

"She must be in agony."

"We can't know that for sure. I'm going to try to keep the morphine going in her system to minimize that chance as much as possible. Son..." Carlisle hesitated.

Silence, as wordless communication passed between them. Then, a ragged whisper broke from Edward. "Carlisle, I don't know if I can do that…"

"You know what you can bear, son. I need to finish patching her up. If you can find it in yourself to do it, it may well shorten the time she would otherwise spend in such pain. I don't know how long the morphine can hold her."

A long silence again. A flurry of movement. Then a sharp stab in my chest, releasing fire there; followed by cool lips at my throat, slashing fresh swaths of burning flame. Once, twice. Then more slashes at my arms, my wrists. The burning intensified unbelievably with the multiple points of entry, shutting down my other senses. I burned alone, no longer aware of what was going on around me…

Time seemed to stretch endlessly in my private Hell. For a long time, there was only the pain, the most excruciating pain I had ever experienced, licking like icy flames over my entire body. I was paralyzed, unable to speak, unable to see or hear, unable to imagine life beyond that pain. I could only lay imprisoned within my body, praying for death's release. Help me, someone. Help me die.

Eventually, the morphine began to lose its hold, the paralysis to fade. At the same time I felt myself getting stronger. Long before I could begin to scream for someone to take my life, I remembered why I shouldn't. I remembered that I had actually wanted this to happen, if not perhaps this way, and if I could just hold on, I could make it through this. To scream now would not save me from what was to be, and would only add to others' pain. I reached somewhere deep within, and found the control necessary to remain still and silent in my agony. Lock down.

The only thing that got me through this time was focusing on the slow, quiet sound of Edward's breathing as he sat by the bedside, keeping vigil over my transformation from human to monster. Not that it was always quiet breathing. He continued to torture himself from time to time, alternating between what he imagined my pain to be and what the depth of my hatred would be for him once I recovered. He never left my side…

So there you have it... what do you think so far? Hit that green button and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

I'm just uploading one more chapter tonight, just to get the ball rolling. This is chapter 24 of Twilight, told in Edward's point of view. Hope you like it!!

Oh, and a disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, only the lovely Stephenie Meyer can claim that! I just like to play!

**Chapter 24 Transformation - EPOV**

I could not know for sure what this time was like for her; I could only imagine, based on my own experience, remember the searing pain. I could only hope that the morphine was blocking that for her. As usual, her mind was closed to me.

We had gone back to Forks, since we were already well-established there and Carlisle could get needed supplies more easily. Our continued presence in Forks would also divert suspicion from our family. Alice returned to school in order to provide a cover story. I was reported as missing and Carlisle was publicly "frantic with worry" after Bella's burned-out truck was found on the I -10 E in Arizona on the way to Phoenix.

A hospital bed was set up in Carlisle's office for Bella, and I set up vigil beside her. Carlisle knew I didn't have it in me to appear publicly while Bella was in this state; this was one of the reasons he'd reported me missing. It would also keep negative attention off us if our family were perceived to have lost someone as well.

Carlisle had a very intense confrontation with Billy Black and Sam Uley shortly after our return. They called for a meeting on the treaty-defined border between Forks and La Push; I monitored the exchange from Bella's bedside through Carlisle's mind. Billy accused the Cullens of having a hand in Bella's disappearance and was ready to declare war, as this would be a clear violation of the treaty. Heavy emotion colored his tone as he further pointed out what this had done to his good friend Charlie.

Carlisle looked at him sorrowfully. "Please know that we did not do this. We only tried to help rescue her, but we failed, and now my son is gone, too." He told them about the nomadic vampires, and that James had been tracking Bella and was responsible for what had happened. "We killed him, but the other two are very much a danger, as they may well seek vengeance or retribution. Watch out for them."

I scanned Billy's mind, and Sam's. Both of them believed Carlisle at his word that our family was not responsible for what had happened, but felt there was more going on. They did not press him, though, and urged him that the Cullen family should leave Forks as soon as the furor had died down. Carlisle agreed, and they parted in peace.

Charlie did not confront us at all. Carlisle and Esme went to his house with several casseroles and expressed their heartfelt condolences. Carlisle mentioned that they had lost me, too, though there was hope I might still be found, and Charlie gripped Carlisle's shoulder, telling him he hoped that would be the case, and thanked him for all the family had done to help.

Through this all, Bella lay nearly deathly still, save for her breath rasping shallowly in her chest, her heart beating frantically.

Again I recalled my own experience, writhing in pain, my body already past exhaustion from the days of wracking high fevers and coughing up blood that I had already been through. I remembered crying out in agony, again and again, begging for Death to come and take me.

From Bella, nothing. How could this be? Was the morphine working to block the pain for her? … or … ? I looked at her broken body and wept silently, without the release tears might have brought, at the very real possibility that I had utterly failed her, that she was in agony beyond expression. While I knew that she would ultimately physically recover from the process of transformation, I was terrified that she could be in such deep pain, that it would forever scar her.

It was a foregone conclusion to me that she would hate me once she awakened from this, would likely try to drive me from her sight. How could she not? I truly was a monster for allowing this to have happened to her, for her to lose her life so brutally at James' hand.

Further, I had destroyed her family. Charlie was a ghost of his former self, moving like an automaton, making arrangements with Renée and Phil for Bella's funeral. They would be burying a casket filled only with pictures, as no body could be found.

I knew I couldn't really go away now, as much as Bella might wish me to once she awoke. For one, as long as Bella lay here, I could not tear myself from her side, weak creature that I was. And two, once she awoke, I would need to help keep the family safe from the excesses of her newborn strength, and the human population safe from her overwhelming newborn thirst. Perhaps she would tear me limb from limb in her rage. I deserved no better.

Time passed. Carlisle came to check on Bella, and also on me. He knew I was torturing myself over this.

He placed a cool hand on the pulse at her wrist as he leaned forward to sample the air above her. "The morphine is gone from her system."

"Yes, I know." That had happened a few hours ago, yet she continued to lie still.

_Her injuries have healed well. She's going to be fine, son. You'll see._ Carlisle's gaze was probing.

"She must be in so much pain," I whispered, not trusting my voice. My breath strangled in my throat.

_We can't know that. The morphine may have worked better than we expected. Listen how strong her heart is. So vital._ Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. _It should be over soon._

Alice came into the room then, and I directed my next question at her. "_How_ soon? Alice, can you please tell me?" I pleaded.

_Tonight. Not long after sunset._ She beamed at me, thinking of a clock face with the exact time.

"Thank you, Alice," I breathed. It was the best news I'd heard all day.

_No problem. _Look_ at her, Edward. She's going to be magnificent._

"She's always been beautiful," I growled.

Alice didn't argue; she just leaned forward and kissed my cheek before turning to Carlisle. "Your delivery's here," she told him.

"Thank you, Alice. Please come help me put it away. Do you need anything, Edward?"

"No, thank you. I'll call you when something changes," I answered, my eyes again on Bella's quiet form.

Just as the sun disappeared below the horizon, her heart's rhythm fantastically doubled, and I knew the end was near. "Carlisle," I called without raising my voice. He was beside me in seconds.

Bella's heart beat faster, ever faster, and her body jerked convulsively, her back arching off the bed. Her fingers clutched at the mattress spasmodically. And then she fell back and was still again, even as I was reaching for her hand.

Her heart stuttered, then failed. Beat one more time. And then stopped. Forever.

Okay... so I'm going to leave this for a couple of days, give folks time to find and review...


	3. Chapter 3

So we're off and running! If you're enjoying what you're reading, please spread the word! And don't forget to subscribe to story alert so you'll know when the next installment posts!

Here is what would be chapter 25 in Twilight, again in Edward's POV...

once again, I do not own Twilight or the characters, I just like to play!! and dream...

* * *

**Chapter 25 Newborn**

Bella opened her eyes and stared upward for the longest time. I wondered what she saw that could hold her attention so, and then realized that she was probably just trying to adapt to her new sense of sight, all the new colors.

But she was so quiet, and I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking. I tried probing gently, but could still hear nothing. Ah, I had hoped… my disappointment at still not being able to read her thoughts, even though she was one of our kind now, was acute.

"Bella?" I squeezed her fingers gently.

Suddenly she was across the room, back against the wall, having flipped backwards off the bed in a disconcerting flash. I was not used to her moving so fast.

"Easy now," Carlisle said gently, both to me and to Bella, who was now crouching defensively while facing us. "There's no threat, Bella. You're safe now."

To my surprise, Bella straightened up immediately, mouthing "Oops." She looked – contrite. In control of herself. Amazing.

From the expression on his face, Carlisle was stunned, too. "How do you feel, Bella?"

"Confused." Her voice was soft, melodic. "But I feel like – me. I thought that wouldn't happen for awhile?"

"You seem to be endowed with exceptional control," Carlisle answered wonderingly. "Tell me, what do you remember?"

"I remember the ballet studio, and being thrown against the mirrors. I must've blacked out. Suddenly I'm here…" she stopped, uncertain.

"Go on," he encouraged. "Do you recall anything of the past couple of days?"

Bella grimaced. "Carlisle, she's probably very thirsty. Can't this wait?" I asked, my face twisting at the thought of her extreme discomfort now after what I had just put her through.

"Of course, you're right. We should take her hunting." As Carlisle spoke, Bella's eyes tracked to mine, and she gave me a timid smile. A smile? How had I earned _that_?

"Yes, we should. Are we making this a family trip then?" I asked, my eyes still on Bella's.

"No, not necessary. Let's ask Jasper along and that should be sufficient." Jasper stepped through the door as if on cue. The rest were waiting behind the door, I knew, anxious to see the newest member of our family.

Bella turned to look at Jasper. Her eyes widened in horror and she gasped, "Jasper, what happened to you?" He was immediately on the defensive, falling into a crouch, until he realized what she meant and stepped back. For the first time, Bella was seeing Jasper's face clearly, seeing all of the silver crescent scars that marked his features.

"It's nothing, Bella. You're just seeing me clearly for the first time. He smiled ruefully. "These are my – battle scars. From training newborns."

Her mouth formed a round "O" of surprise as she processed this. "I would _never_…" she stopped short. "Oh." She looked apologetically at Jasper.

Let's go hunting," Carlisle said briskly. Jasper led the way out of the room. I hesitated before offering Bella my hand, steeling myself for the surely sharp rejection. Again she surprised me by taking it quickly with a shy smile. I led her out of the room, gratified, Carlisle walking behind us. The rest of the family greeted us briefly, then scattered to various areas of the house to await our return.

Jasper kept looking back at Bella as we walked down the stairs and out of the house, his expression sharp. I knew he was tensed for an explosion, surprised she hadn't so much as whined yet.

Bella kept looking at me as if she wished to say something, but kept casting her eyes downward whenever I returned her gaze. I couldn't tell if she was upset or embarrassed.

Finally I could bear her silence no longer. "What are you thinking?" I asked as we crossed the back yard, heading toward the river.

"I'm afraid," she answered slowly.

"_Now_ you're afraid?" I said lightly, myself afraid of what she could mean.

"I'm afraid that you're angry at me, that you won't accept me for what I've become." She couldn't look at me now.

I stopped in my tracks. "And here I thought you would be hating _me_." That brought her eyes back up, and we stared at each other. I brought my hand up and caressed her face gently as I continued, "I _am_ angry… at what happened to you. At the circumstances that robbed you of your human life. I wanted so much more for you than this." I shook my head sadly, then held my other hand up that was holding hers, interlacing my fingers with hers. "But I could never reject you, Bella. I love you. And now we can be together forever, if you'll have me."

In spite of the gravity of the moment, a wry smile stole over her lips. "That sounds suspiciously like a proposal."

I smiled back at her. "I suppose it does. At the very least, welcome to the family, Bella." Carlisle and Jasper echoed the sentiment behind me.

"Thank you," she said simply, as she stepped closer to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, hiding her face in my chest. Jasper looked nervous, but she wasn't hurting me; I shook my head slightly at him as I held her to me and rested my cheek on the top of her head. I had just been given a gift, something I'd never dared hope for: a love to hold onto forever. And she didn't hate me for it. At least, not yet…

She stiffened suddenly, as if _she_ were reading _my_ thoughts, and stepped back, her face tormented, and cried, "Charlie!" Jasper was on her immediately, pinning her shoulders. She just stood there, not fighting him, but looking at me for answers.

"Jasper, let her go," I said sharply. He did immediately, his face confused by her non-reaction to him. I took her hands back in mine and spoke more gently. "Bella, I'm sorry, Charlie thinks you're dead. They found your truck on the highway, burned out. The funeral is tomorrow." She looked shell-shocked; the sudden stress froze her in place. "It's best this way, Bella. There's no way he can see you now, like this. We're all going to need to leave soon."

Bella stayed locked in place for a long time while the three of us stood there watching her, waiting for the explosion that would surely come now. Finally her eyes flickered away, toward the forest across the river, and she grimaced.

"Let's go hunting," she said quietly. "And then we need to talk this out." She regarded the river. "How do we get across, swim?"

The three of us just looked at her, incredulous. How was she staying so in control of herself? Finally, Carlisle spoke in as light a tone as he could manage. "No, we jump. Like so." He took a running start, pushed off a rock at the bank of the river, and sailed over gracefully, landing on the far side. Jasper was still watching Bella. I dropped her hands, ran and jumped, calling her to follow. She looked doubtful, but dutifully backed up more than she really needed to, ran and jumped off the same rock Carlisle and I had used in a single, fluid movement. Due to her extra head-start and her newborn strength, she flew farther than either Carlisle or I had, and landed in the trees; I took off to look for her and found her laughing, standing in the branches of a giant madrone tree.

She jumped down lightly, still laughing. "That was fun." I smiled, taking her hand, as Carlisle and Jasper joined us. Jasper's face was becoming more and more tormented; I could see he was having a difficult time understanding how she could continue to be so – well-behaved – for a newborn.

"Now we run," I told her, smiling as I remembered her reaction as a human to the first time I had run with her. She smiled, too, and we took off, Carlisle and Jasper behind us. The feeling of speed was exhilarating as always, especially welcome after all that had happened over the last few days; I felt the last bit of tension draining from me as the night forest flew past beneath my feet. Felt joy growing inside me, ready to burst, that my Bella, my love, was running beside me, would be beside me forever.

We stopped a few minutes later; there was a herd of elk in range. Bella looked nervous.

I put my hands gently on her shoulders. "Close your eyes." She did so. "Now, what do you smell?" I asked her, watching her face. She frowned in concentration, then her face cleared.

"There're animals by the water. Deer?"

"Elk," I corrected. "How many?"

"Three… no wait, five. Three by the water and two at the edge of the clearing. I can hear their heartbeats." She seemed surprised.

"Good, good." I squeezed her shoulders, pleased at how well she was doing.

"Now what?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"Now just let go and follow your instincts," I told her lightly, letting go of her shoulders. The three of us watched as she remained motionless for a moment longer before dropping into a hunting crouch and heading off in the direction of her prey. We followed behind at a distance.

She was almost to her target when another scent crossed her path. A stronger, much better scent. Human. We didn't realize what had happened until she streaked off in a new direction, and then the scent blew to us. Alarmed, we streaked after her. I wasn't sure we could stop her.

I was fastest, of course, and when I entered into her sphere of attention, she reacted defensively and turned to swipe at me, growling. I evaded her easily, calling out. "Bella!"

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, frozen, not even breathing, her eyes wide. "I – I need to get out of here," she whispered.

"_Can_ you?" I whispered, shocked. How could she ignore the draw of this scent, the humans she was meant by nature to hunt? Not even a mature vampire could resist, once he or she had entered into a hunting state, ruled by instinct alone.

She didn't answer. Suddenly she was off in another direction, putting distance between herself and the scent of the humans, three of them I realized. They had wandered off the usual trails, probably hunting themselves, camping for the night.

Carlisle and I stared at each other, speechless. Jasper's face twisted. "I can't stand this," he said softly. "I thought…"

I knew what he thought, and I left Carlisle to speak with him while I took off after Bella. Jasper would have been far more comfortable if Bella had acted like a typical newborn. He was still having problems adjusting to our lifestyle, and he'd been at it awhile now. It had been expected that Bella would not be able to control herself for the first year or so, that we would have to train her and try to prevent slip-ups; that was the reality (or so we were led to believe by Jasper's experience) of newborns. And yet, Bella remained self-possessed and in control, as if she'd been born to this life. It was making Jasper re-think everything. Maybe it was only hard for him because he _expected_ it to be, expected nothing more of himself.

Bella had stopped again several miles away, at the foot of a mountain, and looked at me apologetically as I loped up to her. "Are you all right? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Of course, and no," I told her, smiling. "Bella, how did you do that? Stop hunting, I mean? I've never seen anything like that before."

She looked down, embarrassed. "You startled me, and I suddenly realized what was happening. I held my breath and ran away."

"But how could you run away from the scent of a _human_?" I still couldn't get over it. "Any other vampire wouldn't have hesitated if they'd crossed that while they were hunting, they would've just gone for it."

"But what if it was someone I knew?" she asked in a tight voice. "How could I live with myself?"

I just looked at her. Over and over again as a human, she had defied my expectations as to what her reaction would be in any given situation. Why should I expect it to change now, simply because she was a part of _my_ world?

She closed her eyes again, and stood perfectly still. There was game nearby, mountain lions this time, and they were on the prowl. I watched her as she oriented herself, muttering under her breath, then followed her as she took off after her prey. Much as I wanted to hunt with her, I still felt the need to protect her while she learned. The elk would've been an easy first target; I wasn't so sure about mountain lions.

She scaled the mountain easily and took to the trees to get above her target. I watched as she stalked a big cat in a tree that was stalking a small animal on the ground. She leapt and took the feline down to the ground; I nearly had a panic attack as I watched its huge claws flailing about. Bella had the creature by the throat in no time and sank her teeth in. The cat gurgled as it struggled briefly, then went limp in Bella's hands as she drained its life force.

I fought for control of my face as Bella stood up gracefully and skipped over to me. She was a bit of a mess; her shirt and jeans torn and stained with leaves and dirt, bits of fern sticking in her hair.

"I need to learn to be neater," she sighed as she saw my amused expression.

"And _I_ need to learn to be less over-protective," I laughed in return. "I nearly had a fit watching you take on that mountain lion."

"Why am I still thirsty?" she asked, frowning.

"Because you're young. Come on, I'll hunt with you this time."

We found a grouping of deer on the way back, and I showed her some of the finer points of tracking and bringing down the prey as we hunted together. She was a quick learner. I brought down three bucks to her two, but she seemed to be sated as we finished. Well, she _had_ had that mountain lion before…

"Feeling better?" I asked as she straightened up from her last kill. She nodded and came to stand close to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and laying her head on my chest. I put my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. I was still feeling aroused from the hunt, my senses acutely heightened, and that was translating into funny tickling sensations deep within my body as I held her close. The feelings were somewhat akin to the hum of electricity that used to pass between us when Bella was human, but gentler, more natural somehow.

I wondered if she felt it, too, as she lifted her head and gazed at my face, reaching up to touch my lips gently. "I love you," she whispered.

I bent my face to hers and kissed her, gently at first, then more urgently as her fingers caught in my hair and pulled me closer. Her breathing changed, coming faster, and my own quickened as well. I broke the kiss and moved my lips to her jaw and throat, suddenly realizing that I wanted her badly, but there were so many details to be worked out yet. I needed a distraction.

"You never answered me," I said huskily, still kissing her.

"Answer what?" Her breath was ragged.

"Whether or not you would marry me, now that the situation has changed." I took her face in my hands, gazing into her eyes.

Her eyes cast down, and my heart dropped. "I am not a big fan of the institution of marriage," she said slowly. She looked back to me. "But I _am_ yours forever."

My heart leapt back up as I considered that for a moment. It was not the commitment she feared, I realized. It was that she had seen how human pairings failed, had been heavily influenced by her own parents' history and behavior. Her sentiment was understandable in light of that. But she wanted me, wanted to be with me forever, and that was a very good thing.

"As I am yours," I answered. "Someday, though, I _would_ like to make it legally official. Just so that there's no question. I would hate to lose you on a technicality."

She raised her eyebrows at that, but said nothing, gazing back at me evenly. The excitement was fading from her eyes, her breathing regular. The distraction had worked, for both of us. We would have time enough for the physical expression of our love, in good time. Right now, we needed to hammer out Bella's immediate future.

"Come, love," I said, stepping out of our embrace and taking her hand. "Let's go talk with our family."

We came together in the dining room to discuss what to do now. Carlisle and Jasper had already brought the family up to speed on Bella's behavior and control since her transformation. Bella was adamant that she did not want us to leave Forks on her account, and she wanted to let Charlie know that she was all right.

"Well, actually, you're not 'all right', Bella," Alice pointed out. "You're not human anymore, you're one of us. Charlie couldn't help but notice that."

"I'm sure he will," Bella said grimly. "But I left him under very bad circumstances, and I can't leave it like that. I can't bear – I need to make it right for him, let him know that I'm OK and I'm happy, and that I love him. I want to apologize for the way I had to leave him."

"And for what? You can't stay with him. It isn't as though you can go back to things the way they were."

"Actually, I _am_ thinking that I would like to continue the way things were going before all this happened. With modifications of course." Bella's eyes swept our faces around the table. "I want to finish high school. I don't want us to have to start all over again. I know I can do this."

"Bella, I know you make it look so easy," said Carlisle. "But you're still a newborn, and the high school is a high population area. It would be very dangerous if your control were to slip."

"I have spent my life so far serving the needs and expectations of others," she said softly. "Maybe that's why I have control over myself now. I won't slip."

"Not to mention the fact that it would be a media circus right now were you to suddenly re-appear," Carlisle continued. "Your disappearance and death was a huge local news story."

"Charlie is in law enforcement. He can deal with the media."

Bella seemed to have an answer for everything. Carlisle finally crossed his arms as he sat back, saying, "Bella, why don't you tell us how you think this should play out? I'd rather have your thoughts completely out there on this subject, so that we can decide what is reasonable and what is not."

Bella took a deep breath, looking around the table at all of us before she spoke. "Carlisle should call Charlie and tell him that Edward just showed up here, and he's found me. Tell him to cancel the funeral, and if he has to involve the media, just do a brief statement to the effect that the families want their privacy for a reunion. Tell him that you'll bring me by later in the day, after you've finished checking me out medically, and suggest that he invite Renée and Phil over to see me too."

She paused. "I _don't_ know what I look like now, but whatever you have to do to make me look plausibly human and somewhat injured, do it. Make-up, contacts, a cast or two… whatever it takes. We need a cover story, something like me getting picked up and roughed up a little before Edward was able to rescue me."

She had obviously put a lot of thought into this while we were hunting. "Carlisle, Edward, and Jasper should bring me over to Charlie's once I'm ready, and then we hash it out. Of course we don't tell that what I am, but they will figure out I'm different somehow. For Charlie, the less he knows, the happier he is. Renée and Phil will ask questions about what happened and who the players are, but not _what_ the players are."

Then she shrugged. "I know I can't _live_ with Charlie anymore, but maybe while I'm still in high school I can be over there every afternoon to clean house and cook dinner and do homework, for appearance's sake. Alice and Edward can monitor me in school and at Charlie's house to make sure I'm – behaving myself. Did I miss anything?"

No one spoke for a time, sifting through everything Bella had said. She looked from face to face, searching, before finally reaching mine. I was listening to everyone's thoughts. I returned her gaze and took her hand under the table as Alice piped up, "Bella _can_ do this. It's going to work."

Carlisle took out his cell phone. "Hello, Chief Swan? Yes, it's Dr. Cullen. I have very good news. Edward just came home, and he's brought Bella with him. Yes, yes." He paused. "Well, I'm just about to do a full physical exam and get her cleared medically, and then I'll bring her over. Why don't you go ahead and cancel the funeral? Yes, that would be best, the less attention the better. And if you are up to it, why don't you ask Renée and Phil to come over so that Bella doesn't have to travel too much? Yes. Yes, I'll call you when we're ready to come over. Later, Chief." He hung up then and turned to Alice. "All right, Alice. It's time to get to work. I'll get her casted; you get the cosmetics and contacts."

"And the clothes!" Alice flung this over her shoulder excitedly as she darted from the room. I rolled my eyes and grinned at Bella.

"_Now_ you're in trouble." I laughed as she grimaced. "All right, let's go make you a victim."

Carlisle, Bella and I trouped up to his office. Bella and I sat by his desk while he dug up his casting supplies. We decided on a forearm cast and a leg cast on the same side of the body.

"Are these going to interfere with my hunting?" Bella asked worriedly as Carlisle worked quickly to set up the casts with my help.

He shook his head. "And I'll progress you to braces in a couple of weeks, which should make it even easier."

Alice took over after the casting process was over, carrying Bella to her room and forbidding me to follow. "This is girls' territory. Stay out!" she chided.

I drifted upstairs to my room to listen to music while I waited. Esme came to the door of my room after a few minutes.

"Edward, I'd like to make the room next door to yours into Bella's. Will you help me?"

"Sure, Mom. That's a great idea." I leapt up and followed her. The renovations she had in mind involved some furniture moving and taking out a wall to expand the space. I saw where she was going with this; eventually we could take out one more wall, and Bella and I would have a common suite. It was perfect.

Alice came dancing in as we were finishing several hours later. "She's all set. Thanks for the girl time, Edward."

"As if I had a choice," I said drily. "Did you make her look in a mirror?"

"Yes." Alice grimaced. "She has some self-concept issues, doesn't she?"

I sighed and nodded. "She always has."

We went down to the first floor and found Bella perched on the couch beside Emmett, watching the local news. Alice had kept her clothing choices conservative, likely at Bella's insistence; Bella was wearing a set of dark blue sweats, the pants legs flaring to accommodate the cast. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had a bit of makeup on to make her facial coloring seem more human; it helped that she had already been pale, so Alice hadn't had to do much. The contacts had turned her eyes to a flat brown rather than their former milk-chocolate color; there had been no choice there.

"They just had a news item on you two," Emmett informed me. "It was very brief, just said you'd been found and would be reunited with your families today." I nodded and turned to Bella.

"Are you ready for this, sweetheart?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said gamely, reaching out her arms to be picked up. I did so, gently, as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed her.

Carlisle drove the Mercedes with Jasper in the front seat while I sat in the back with Bella. It was raining quite hard when we got to Charlie's house; I wrapped Bella securely in a blanket before jogging at human speed to the front door with her in my arms.

Charlie was waiting for us at the door. "Bella!" he cried as I brought her through. I carried her past him into the living room and placed her on the couch beside a woman with short brown hair who looked exactly like Bella, only older. Renée.

Carlisle and Jasper came in behind me and we all crowded into the living room. Charlie had pulled in the kitchen chairs so everyone would have a place to sit.

Renée had had a brief bout of hysterics when I set Bella down, but had recovered quickly and sat with her arm around her daughter, still wrapped in the blanket. Phil sat in the easy chair across from her. Carlisle, Jasper, and Charlie took seats in the kitchen chairs while I perched on the arm of the couch next to Bella. Jasper radiated calm throughout the room.

"So what happened? From the beginning!" Renée demanded, just as Bella had said she would. Charlie was peering sharply at Bella's face as she sat huddled in the blanket.

"I ran away," Bella said simply in a low voice, trying to sound as she had when she was human. "Dad, I am so sorry I hurt you that night. I was thinking a lot of crazy thoughts and I needed to get away, and you weren't going to let me go. I wasn't fair to you at all; I should have talked it out with you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Bella, Bella, I was so worried. Of course I forgive you. I'm just sorry you didn't think you could talk to me. I guess I'm not always the most – talkative." He wiped his brow with his arm. "I'm just grateful Edward was able to find you."

"Yes, how did that come about?" Renée asked. She leaned around Bella to peer up at me, measuring me up with her eyes.

"Well, after Bella left I was devastated, of course. She didn't want me to follow her," I said slowly. "But I couldn't stand it, I had to talk to her, so _I_ ran away." I looked at Carlisle penitently and he smiled back at me. "Anyway, as I was driving down towards Phoenix, I heard on the news that her truck had been found. I got to the site as quickly as I could, and heard about the van that had carried her off, so I went looking for it. I found her pretty quickly, but I had to wait until they weren't paying attention before I could get her away safely. Then I brought her back up here, since she said her mother wasn't in Phoenix yet and she wanted to get back to her Dad."

"Oh, sweetie, that must've been so traumatic!" Renée cried. "What did they do to you?"

"It's not that bad, Mom. My arm and my leg got broken when they threw me in the van, and they pretty much left me alone after that. They were just looking for some fun, they told me." Bella grimaced.

"Well, so you're back," Charlie noted. "Are you here to stay? Or are you leaving again with your mother?"

Bella shed the blanket from her lap, pulling it around her shoulders. "I'd like to talk about that," she said quietly. "I'm pretty settled at school now, and Edward's really helped me realize I have a good thing going here, now that I've gotten over the original shock. So I'd like to stick around, if that's OK with you." I took one of her hands and held it, interlacing our fingers, so that Charlie and Renée could see that we were a couple.

"Hmmn." Charlie was thoughtful. "Just as if nothing had happened?" he asked, his eyes sharp on the two of us.

"Well, obviously, things have changed just a bit," Bella said evenly, staring back at him intently.

Carlisle picked up the ball. "My daughter Alice will see to Bella's personal needs while she's in the casts, so we thought it might be easier if she stayed with us. But Edward will bring her here every day after school so that she can do things here… cook, do homework, make plans with friends, and of course spend time with you."

Charlie continued to stare at Bella, but he seemed mollified, almost… relieved? Bella smiled at him, and then turned to Renée. "How long are you here for?"

"Well, on the way up here we found out that Phil finally just got an offer in Jacksonville, so we were going to rush back to sign after the funeral. We could stay if you need us, though…" Renée trailed off, and Bella was already shaking her head.

"No, no… I was just wondering if there was time to visit. You need to do what you need to do." Bella was firm. "I'm fine. And really, I'm happy now. I honestly don't know what made me run like that," she added, shaking her head and squeezing my hand, smiling up at me shyly.

We stayed a bit longer as the talk turned casual. Charlie offered to order pizza for all of us, but of course we refused. I carried Bella up to her room so she could gather a few things, and then we took our leave. Bella stood with my support, balancing precariously, to give quick hugs to her mother and father and Phil, then I wrapped her in the blanket and carried her out. It was still raining.

Bella looked lingeringly back at the house as we pulled away. Charlie, Renée, and Phil were standing on the porch to watch us leave, waving. "That went well," she said quietly as she blinked and the contacts disintegrated in her eyes from the venom. I held her close, and we took her home.

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please review!!! thank you!!


	4. Chapter 4 High School

So up to now, I'm sure you've noticed, I've been borrowing heavily from Twilight and Breaking Dawn for my descriptions. Here I start to diverge, and while I still follow the timeline of Twilight, I'm striking out on my own in terms of what the characters are doing/saying.

I actually re-edited this chapter from what it was in NaNoWriMo (added descriptions) and broke it in half as it was getting rather long, so this half is getting posted today and I'll post the second half on Friday.

And... we'll start to see where this earns its 'M' rating...

I also added to my profile...

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**Chapter 26 High School**

I placed Bella in the wheelchair we'd borrowed from the hospital, and gave her our school bags to hold in her lap. She looked about anxiously as I closed up the car and pushed her across the parking lot.

"Are you ready for this, love?" I whispered to her. We'd gone hunting this past weekend in preparation for this day, but I knew the thirst of a newborn could be relentless.

"I'm more scared of all the attention we're going to get than that I'll slip," she whispered back. "Maybe this victim thing wasn't such a good idea."

"It works for me. I get to be your knight in shining armor," I laughed. She turned to glower at me, and then suddenly Jessica Stanley was running up to us, her face alarmed.

"Bella! What happened to you?!" She looked from Bella to me and back again.

"Oh, Jess, it's a long story," Bella said quietly. "I was stupid, I ran away and got picked up by some guys who roughed me up a bit, but Edward found me."

Jessica blinked. "_That's_ not long," she complained.

"Obviously, there are more details," I put in wryly. "You can have fun dragging them out of Bella when you two are in class together." I smirked at her and her eyes went wide, and then she giggled nervously.

"Okay, Bella. I'll see you later," she said meaningfully, then kept looking back at us as she walked away.

I wheeled Bella to her first class, stopping along the way as students greeted her and asked what had happened. She was patient and friendly, but kept her explanation short and consistent as I kept silent behind her. Nobody seemed to notice me.

Except for Mike Newton. He was already in class when we arrived; he jumped out of his seat as I came through the door and moved the chair at Bella's desk so that I could put her wheelchair there; he looked as though he was ready to wrench the handlebars of the chair from my grasp.

I settled Bella in, took my bag from her lap, and kissed her forehead gently. "I'll see you after class." She smiled at me warmly.

I listened to Mike's mind as I left; he was glaring at my back until I was out of sight, then turned to Bella. "Are you OK? What happened to you? I was so worried," he said, practically oozing possessiveness, I thought with anger. I nearly turned back. "They said you were dead."

"Here I am," she replied drily. "I'm fine, I just got a little banged up."

"You've always been a klutz," he sighed. "What happened?"

She gave her pat answer. "I was stupid, I ran away and got picked up, was roughed up a little. Edward found me."

"Did they do anything else to you besides this?" He indicated her casts, sounding outraged.

"No, Mike. Really. I think it scared them when they saw how breakable I was." She laughed shortly. "They left me alone after that."

Class started then, so he couldn't ask any more questions. But he continued to fume, and I had to leave his mind before I got any angrier as well. He was still carrying a torch for her, apparently.

I returned there at the end of her class, just as he was asking her if she wanted help getting to her next class. He took one look at my face and clamped his jaw shut, moving out of my way with a dour glare.

"Thank you," I said mildly, in stark contrast to my own expression. "Are you all set, Bella?" I added solicitously.

She looked from me to Mike and back again, then sighed. "Yes. _Please_ behave."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, love. Always." I made it sound like the declaration that it was, for Mike's benefit. Then I pushed her out of the room under his venomous stare.

Tyler Crowley met her at the door of her next class. "Ow, tough break, Bella. Are you gonna be able to dance at prom?"

She looked at him, incredulous.

I couldn't resist. "Thank you for your concern, Tyler. Bella will be fine by prom." I wheeled the chair past him and settled her at her desk, kissing her on the cheek before I left. "I'm sorry, love, I'm having fun with this," I murmured in her ear. "See you after class." I listened to Tyler during her class, of course. His ego wasn't even dented, and he was no less resolute to take her to prom. How dense could he be?

When I came back to get Bella for her next class, she was nervous, knowing she would have to face Jess and her questions. I bent over her shoulder and held her hand, pushing her chair with my other hand as I listened to Jess to see what she was going to ask.

"Hmmn… she wants to know what happened, of course, in as much detail as she can manage to wring out of you," I smiled. "And she wants to know about our relationship, and whether things have gotten any further since the last time she quizzed you." Bella looked pained.

I wheeled her into Trig and settled her at her desk beside the very animated Jess, kissing her hand and then bending to kiss her cheek again, breathing "Have fun" in her ear before I left. Jess stared at me until I disappeared, then wheeled on Bella, who was trying unsuccessfully to ignore her.

"He's kissing you _now_," she accused, reminding Bella unsubtly that she never thought I would.

"Yes," Bella agreed, smiling while continuing to look through her textbook as if searching for something.

"We're on page one-ninety-two," Jess said impatiently. "Bella, details here! How did Edward know how to find you?"

"I don't know, Jess. I guess he's something of a Boy Scout. I'm just happy he did."

"How did you break your arm and your leg?"

"When those guys picked me up at the truck stop, they threw me into a van, and I landed funny," Bella answered, ducking her head.

"So – why did you run away in the first place?"

"I – guess I was having trouble sorting things out and I freaked a little. Stupid, huh?" Bella's expression was wry.

"Sorting what things out? You and Edward Cullen?"

"Yes, I suppose. I've never had a serious boyfriend before."

"So he's serious now?" Jess was hungry for details. "How serious?"

"Pretty serious."

"Like, making-out serious?"

Bella couldn't look at her. "That's private," she said quietly.

_WOW! They must've _done it_!!_ Jess was beside herself. _Wow, who'd've thought _Bella_… oh, my gosh, he must've been sooo awesome…_ she got caught up in her own fantasies and couldn't ask any more before class started.

I was suddenly concerned for Bella's virtue, that I was sullying it by letting Jess and others assume we might have made love to each other already, and felt ashamed at my public displays of affection this morning. I needed to tone it down severely.

As I hurried back to Bella after class, I surreptitiously watched other boy-girl pairings among the students to see how they handled themselves in public. I saw couples holding hands, kissing hello and kissing goodbye. I hadn't done more than that, and I certainly hadn't kissed her on the lips as the couples I observed were doing. It made me feel better, though I still vowed to limit physical contact with Bella in public.

Bella was happy to see me, though Jess stayed with us as I wheeled the chair to their next class together, Spanish. I kept my hands and lips to myself, behaving like a perfect gentleman. The girls were silent until I left, without a kiss this time, then Jess turned on Bella immediately.

"Are you two going to the prom?"

"We haven't really talked about it." Bella gestured at the cast on her leg helplessly.

"When are you getting together with him again?"

Bella gave her a funny look. Jess didn't know how to interpret it, and neither did I. Was this a danger signal? I looked to Alice, in Gym with me now, and mouthed, _Is Bella going to do anything bad?_

Alice frowned at me, concentrated, then shook her head. _Nope, all clear._

I relaxed, and went back to Jess's thoughts. Bella hadn't answered her, and she was running out of ways to drag the information out of her. I empathized with her.

Class started then, and Bella was safe for the rest of the hour.

I came and got her at lunch time, and wheeled her back to the car briefly so she could put in a new set of contacts, then we sat outside at the picnic benches rather than going into the cafeteria with the entire student body. Bella was grateful; it had been a rough morning, though she had done well. She sat on the bench beside me and tucked herself into me, hiding her head in my chest. I laughed as I wrapped my arms around her loosely.

"What's so funny?" she asked, face still hidden.

"Well, not funny, love, but Jess seems to think we've had sex with each other already…"

"Jess can go take a flying leap. I don't _care_ what she thinks," Bella grumbled into my chest.

"Well, _I_ do," I surprised us both by saying it aloud. "I don't want you to feel pressured into something before you're ready, and I'm of a mind to have us wait until we're married first. So there can be no question."

"I told you I'm not interested in a wedding. To me it's a bunch of religious and legal hot air, signifying nothing."

"What kind of formal declaration would mean something to you?"

_That_ brought her up out of my chest. She stared straight ahead, thinking.

"I'm not sure exactly," she finally said slowly. "It would need to be something incredibly simple, but unique. Something special between the two of us."

"All right. _You_ think, and I'll do some research. Maybe we can come up with something together." I said softly. "I would very much like for us to be able to work this out."

Bella snugged her head back into my chest with a happy sigh, and I laid my cheek on top of her head, content as well. We stayed that way until first bell, and then I helped her back in the chair and took us to Biology.

"Welcome back, Miss Swan," said Mr. Banner, coming over to us as I wheeled her into her place at our lab table. "How do you feel?"

"Fine, thank you, sir," answered Bella quietly. "It's good to be back." He smiled at her warmly and returned to his desk.

Angela Weber came up to us. "Hi, Bella. I haven't had a chance to see you since you got back. Where did you go at lunch?"

"Oh, we were just outside, sorry. I needed some fresh air," Bella said apologetically, and smiled at her. "How have you been? How's Ben?"

"I've been great, thanks. School's been good, and Ben and I have been getting along famously. I'm so happy we finally got together!"

"That's great! We should double-date sometime," Bella said enthusiastically.

"I would love that!" Angela was excited at the idea, and turned to me. "Edward, could you put heads together with Ben on that? Nothing big, just dinner and a movie - ?"

"I'll see him in Spanish next period, and we'll work it out," I promised. The girls grinned at each other. I had never seen Bella so excited over a social opportunity.

Mr. Banner started his lecture then, and Angela hurried to her seat. I reveled in being able to sit this close to Bella in class and not be worried about killing her by accident. I would have to work on making sure we had more classes together next year. It seemed like a very long time ago, a lifetime ago, that I had been trying to get _out_ of this class with her. So much had changed.

I took her to the office after class to arrange her pass from Gym for the next several weeks. She sent me from there to Spanish class so I could catch Ben while she went to the school library to do some reading.

I was able to speak with Ben, who sat behind me, before Mrs. Goff started class. He was initially hesitant, but warmed to the idea when I told him how excited the girls were. We decided to go to Port Angeles on Thursday after school.

Emmett gave me a strange look when I turned back around to face front, but didn't say anything. At least not out loud.

_You've definitely lost it now, little brother. Double-dating with _humans_? With a newborn mate? _That's_ a recipe for disaster._

I just rolled my eyes at him and smiled.

Bella was still reading when I joined her in the library after school. I looked over her shoulder. Austen's _Mansfield Park_. Of course. I sat beside her and played with her hair while she read, content just to be with her without any pressure or conflict. She read for awhile longer, still engrossed, until she finally sighed and shut the book. "I suppose we should get over to Charlie's."

"Yes, I suppose we should," I answered with a smile. I kissed her hair softly, then wheeled her out to the car.

When we got to Charlie's, I carried her into the house and set her on the sofa in the living room. Charlie wasn't home yet; we had some time to ourselves, out of the public eye, as well as the eyes of my ever-watchful family. I locked the front door again, then sat beside her on the couch and gathered her close to me, pulling her onto my lap. Bella kept her hands in her lap so she wouldn't hurt me and tilted her head up for a kiss; I cupped her face with one hand and brought my lips to hers, my other hand wrapping around her waist.

"I've wanted to do this all day," I murmured against her lips. Her breath caught, and her hands came up then to unbutton my shirt and expose my chest; her fingers gently traced along the muscles of my chest and belly. My breath began to come hard as the tickling sensations started again deep in the pit of my stomach, and I could hear Bella's breath grow ragged as well.

I kissed along the edge of her jaw to her ear, and then moved to the nape of her neck, my hand still cupping her face, my thumb stroking her cheek gently for a bit before starting to roam slowly downwards. She moaned my name softly. I kept kissing her relentlessly; soft, deep kisses to the neck trailing down to the throat as I caressed her gently, slipping my hands inside her clothes. One of my hands cupped and squeezed her breast gently while the other cupped her sex, her bra and panties still between us. I stroked her gently, my rhythm at first slow and then building until she finally gasped and pleaded, "hold me, Edward!" and I strained her close to me while she trembled and cried out, then continued holding her to me until she went limp against my chest. I was very aroused myself, my body aching for her, but I convinced myself it would be all the sweeter for waiting, for taking our time. In the meantime, I enjoyed giving her this small pleasure.

"Oh, Edward, that felt so good," she whispered against my bare chest. I kissed the top of her head, willing my body to settle down, my breathing to even out, and just held her to me.

"I'm glad, my love," I whispered into her hair. We stayed like that for a time, basking in the new level of intimacy between us, before moving apart reluctantly. I checked her eyes as I re-buttoned my shirt. "You need fresh contacts, my love."

"I know," she said with a grimace. "I'll put them in as soon as Charlie pulls into the driveway. I really hate having to wear them."

She got up and moved gingerly to the kitchen to start Charlie's dinner while I grabbed our school bags from the car. When I came back, she was working at the kitchen table; I left the bags in the living room and sat with her to help chop vegetables for a salad. I watched her technique and followed along as best I could.

When the salad was in the fridge and dinner was in the oven, we started our homework at the kitchen table, and were still at work on it when Charlie came through the door. He greeted us enthusiastically, and sniffed the aroma from the oven appreciatively. "Almost done? I'm starved."

"Yes, almost done," Bella agreed, as she closed one of her textbooks and opened another. "I'll let you know as soon as it's ready, Dad."

Charlie watched the homey scene for a few minutes before he grunted and headed off to watch TV while he waited. Bella grinned at me.

"What?" I asked in a low voice.

"I'm just so happy to be able to do this, to be 'normal' for Charlie," she answered. I grinned back at her and tousled her hair affectionately.

We put Charlie's dinner on the table and called him in. I was done with my homework but Bella was still doing some catch-up work. I helped her with it while Charlie ate. Charlie didn't seem to notice that neither of us was eating.

"Oh, Dad," Bella pulled her head up from her book casually. "Edward and I are going out with Angela and Ben on Thursday night. We won't be out late."

Charlie put his fork down. "Where are you going?"

Bella looked to me. I smiled at him and shrugged. "Ben and I thought we'd take the girls to dinner in Port Angeles and catch a movie. There are a couple good shows out now."

"It's a school night, remember. Bella should be back…" his voice trailed off. "Oh."

"That's right, I'll be bringing her back to Alice, not here," I said smoothly. "So you don't need to wait up."

"I hope that you two are staying safe," Charlie said darkly, looking pointedly at Bella. She looked up from her homework, confused, and then a look of horror crossed her face.

"Dad, we are _not_ having this discussion now," she said in a low voice, obviously embarrassed, her expression stricken.

"Yes, we are," he said, looking every bit as uncomfortable. "I'm sure Edward won't mind waiting in the other room."

"Renée and I had this discussion several years ago, Dad. You're too late." Bella couldn't look at either of us. I nodded to Charlie, stood and walked swiftly into the living room to sit and wait this out, but of course I could hear everything.

"You didn't have a boyfriend then," he pointed out.

"Edward is being a perfect gentleman," she told him. I thought about our stolen moment earlier this afternoon and smiled to myself. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Where are you staying in their house?"

"With Alice. So she can help me during the night, remember? Stop being so paranoid."

"I'm your father. It comes with the job." But he sounded satisfied.

It was quiet for some time, until Bella called finally for me to take her to the living room. I walked back to see Charlie doing his dishes at the sink and Bella glowering at the kitchen table; it was all I could do not to chuckle at the look on her face. I swept her up in my arms and carried her to the couch in the living room, then brought our book bags out to the car before settling beside her. She leaned against me and closed her eyes as Charlie came into the room and turned on the TV.

"Tired, Bella?" Charlie asked her as he sat down, his voice kinder now. She nodded silently, keeping her eyes lightly shut.

"It's been a long day," I said. "Do you want me to take you back now, Bella?" She hesitated, then nodded again slowly. I pulled her into my arms and stood up. "Good night, Charlie. See you tomorrow."

"Good night." He sounded sorrowful as he got up and held the door for me while I carried Bella out. I knew he was unhappy that she would not be sleeping in her room upstairs anymore.

Bella opened her eyes and came back to life as we drove home. "_That_ was awkward," she commented darkly. "I'm sorry, Edward."

I _did_ chuckle then. "It's a good thing he wasn't watching us this afternoon." She gave me a fierce look.

When we arrived at the house, Bella drifted off upstairs to read and I went to the computer to research marriage traditions in different cultures, hoping to find something to Bella's liking. I was hoping that we could plan something for this summer, as I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold out from succumbing to the passion that lit the space between us.

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so what do you think so far? Please review! and tell your friends...


	5. Chapter 5 More High School and the Prom

So readership is starting to pick up it seems, hope you're all still enjoying the ride! Mention this story to others, please!

I have joined two other Twilight story sites (Twilighted and Twificplayground) and will likely be uploading my story there as well...

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Thursday after school, I took Bella home to change, and then we met at Angela's house to take one car to Port Angeles. I volunteered to drive, and Angela was thrilled with that idea; it would give her and Ben more time to be with each other in the back seat.

Neither of the girls were big talkers, but they kept a conversation going on the way to Port Angeles. Bella wanted to hear about Angela's little brothers, and Angela was only too happy to talk about them, pride shining in her voice as she described their antics. I was content to hold Bella's hand as we drove.

Human chatter usually bored me, but I found myself paying attention, and I was struck by the tone of the conversation in comparison to what I had heard in the past from adolescent girls. No gossip passed their lips, no analysis of other people's personalities and shortcomings, no going on and on about inconsequential things like hair and clothes and makeup. Bella was focusing on Angela and drawing her out with simple questions. I checked Angela' thoughts; she was a shy girl but Bella's manner was not making her self-conscious at all. Every so once in awhile her mind would flash surprise, _Wow! she saw that_, or, _Gee, she really is paying attention_. Of course Bella, being who she was, would continue to embrace the human touch, even when she was no longer a part of that world… and drawing me along with it, I realized.

I checked out Ben's expression in the rear view mirror. He was holding Angela's hand and appeared very absorbed in what she had to say, leaning toward her with an intent expression and smiling from time to time. When I listened to his mind, I saw that he'd been too shy to ask some of these questions, and he was gratified to hear her responses.

We went to the same restaurant I had taken Bella to that fateful night when I had had to save her life from that killer/rapist. I recognized the hostess immediately and she seemed to remember me as well. She seemed chagrined that I still had Bella with me and had brought reinforcements as well. I asked for a private table and made it worth her while with a small cash donation.

We sat, Bella insisting on transferring to a regular chair and stowing the wheelchair in a corner. She and Angela pored over the menu together, debating the merits of this or that dish. Ben and I exchanged a glance, and I rolled my eyes. He laughed.

The waitress came back and took our drink orders. Angela and Ben ordered Cokes and Bella asked for water. Intrigued, I asked for water as well.

"What are you going to order?" Ben asked Angela after the waitress had left.

"I think I'm going to go with the cacciatore," she answered thoughtfully.

"That does sound good. I think I'll go for that, too," Ben said with relief. I knew from his thoughts that the menu notations had overwhelmed him; this was his first time here.

"Edward, do you want to split something? I couldn't finish it all the last time I was here," Bella commented.

"That sounds fine. Pick whatever you'd like," I told her with a smile.

The waitress came back with the drinks and a bread basket. Ben gallantly ordered for himself and Angela. Bella added, "…and he and I would like to split the lasagna, please." The waitress nodded with a smile at me and left. Bella laughed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It looks like I'm competing with the waitress again," she replied.

"There's no competition," I assured her dryly. That made Angela giggle.

Dinner passed pleasantly. Ben and I found some common ground in electronics to talk about quietly while the girls talked about where they might like to go this summer. Angela was thinking about spending time in Portland, which seemed to interest Bella as well, though she mentioned wanting to see Alaska as well.

Being too still is usually a marker for a vampire; Bella had no problems keeping active. She played with her straw or pretended to take sips at intervals, she played with the food on her plate, she toyed with her napkin. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, amused and impressed at how well she could keep up the illusion.

After we settled the bill, we walked outside to a perfect evening. I drove us to the movie theatre, and Ben and I got into the ticket line while Angela pushed Bella around the lobby, looking at the posters on the wall for current and upcoming movies. The girls picked the movie they wanted to see and pointed out the poster to us, and then Bella whispered quietly to Angela and Angela wheeled her into the ladies' room. It was time to change her contacts again, I realized.

When the girls came out, we were waiting for them. We went into the room for our movie and I carried Bella to a regular seat so that she could sit beside Angela. Ben sat on Angela's other side, of course, while I sat on Bella's other side.

The theatre darkened for the previews, and I was abruptly reminded of the last time that Bella and I had watched a movie together. I looked down at her quickly, and she grinned at me, obviously remembering it too. We took each other's hand, interlacing fingers, and turned back to the screen.

I endeavored to remain a perfect gentleman throughout the movie, difficult though it was. Angela and Ben spent most of the time gazing into each other's eyes, exchanging kisses and tentative caresses… I tried to give them as much privacy as I could. Other teenaged couples in the audience were more... uh, _active_, and I did my best to screen them out as well. Bella sat quietly with her eyes on the screen, seeming to sense my discomfort. Her eyes flickered to mine every once in a while, questioning, and once in awhile she would squeeze my fingers. I kept my own eyes forward and my hand still.

Finally the movie was over, and I stood with relief, sweeping Bella up in my arms to bring her back to the wheelchair. She wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my chest. I pressed my cheek against her hair as I carried her over to the chair and placed her in it, then bent to kiss her. Her fingers caught briefly in my hair, but dropped swiftly as Angela and Ben came up beside us.

"Enjoy the movie?" Ben grinned.

"Yes," said Bella. "It looked like you did, too," she added with a wink. Angela blushed, but Ben's grin widened.

We went back out into the perfect night and strolled slowly to the car. Bella and Angela discussed the movie quietly, pausing to look up at the sky from time to time. The skies were clear for once, and stars were visible. It was a beautiful night.

I drove to Angela's house to drop off Angela and Ben. The ride was quiet; Ben and Angela were gazing at each other again and kissing from time to time. The trip did not take long, thankfully.

"Thank you, Edward. We had a really wonderful time with you two. Let's do it again sometime soon," Angela said.

"Certainly," I answered. "Good night, Angela. Good night, Ben." Bella echoed good-byes from behind me, and waved as we drove off.

Bella turned to me as we headed home. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. Why?"

"Mmmm… nothing." She faced forward again. "Just checking."

This piqued my curiosity, as she knew it would. "What is it, Bella?"

She looked down, regarding her hands in her lap. She didn't answer.

"Bella?" She flinched at the edge in my tone.

"Bella, please," I pleaded. "What's bothering you, love?"

Her hands clasped and unclasped repeatedly as she turned back to me. "I – thought that my – joining your world would make our relationship less complicated, make it easier for you to be with me."

"It did. It is. _Much_ easier." I sighed ruefully. "_Too_ easy."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to rush us into something we're not ready for. You had a pretty traumatic time joining this world, and our relationship is still so new. We have so much to learn about each other."

"I already know that I love you, and that I want to spend the rest of forever with you. The rest will come," Bella said simply. "With luck, we'll never stop learning about each other."

I stroked her cheek. "You have me for forever, love. Let's take our time with this. As much for me as for you – I'm still so new at all of this."

She caught my hand and kissed it. "I love you."

"As I love you," I answered.

The days passed. Our physical relationship did not progress much further, though we still had 'private time' at Charlie's every afternoon before he came home. We kissed, of course, and caressed each other, though I did not allow her to touch me _there_ with her hands, even over clothing; I was afraid I would not be able to hold back if she did. On occasion, when I brought her to climax through my touch against her panties, I was aroused enough myself to climax in the confines of my pants, praying that she did not notice, even as she sat in my lap with her thigh firmly against my arousal. She never let on if she did, even though the release was usually mind-blowing to me and I felt slight dizzy after.

Hunting was harder. I was always aroused after a hunt, as was she; but at least one of our family was always with us for safety, so we never did more than embrace and kiss. I began to understand why cold showers were sometimes necessary; they really did do the trick when I was so aroused that I thought I'd lose my mind. I could not bear to take myself in hand and think of Bella _that way_; it was just too base for my tastes, given my Victorian upbringing.

Bella 'progressed' from the casts to braces, which she could leave off when she was at home. The flurry of attention over her sudden re-appearance from apparent death had faded, and fellow students got used to seeing us together as a couple.

The end of the school year was approaching, and the prom was coming up. Alice was getting excited about it; she loved these formal human occasions. She brought up the subject one rainy day at lunch, when we were all sitting in the cafeteria.

"Rose, Em, you're going, right?" Rosalie nodded swiftly. "Edward? Bella? What about you two?" We looked at each other; I had been hesitant to ask her, knowing how she felt about dances. But it should be different now… I raised an eyebrow and she smiled back at me. Alice caught the exchange. "That would be a yes. Well, this calls for some serious shopping, then." I rolled my eyes. "And you boys need to order your tuxes, pronto."

Alice and the girls went to Olympia after school to go dress-shopping. Jasper, Emmett, and I stayed local and ordered our tuxes in town.

When we were finally reunited, Alice was smug. "The trip was an unqualified success," she declared. I tried looking in her head, but she was having none of that; she was busy reciting Shakespeare in Latin to keep me from seeing anything. I rolled my eyes at her and she laughed. "You'll just have to wait. In the meantime, Bella needs dancing lessons."

For the next several evenings after coming back from Charlie's, Bella and I spent time in my room reviewing basic dance moves. Where she had been uncoordinated as a human, she was graceful now, but the moves were still unfamiliar to her, so it took practice and patience. Further, while she enjoyed listening to music, she didn't have music _in_ her as I did, so I found it hard to teach. But she was willing, so that was half the battle. I persevered, and after a couple of weeks she was performing passably well. She seemed pleased with herself, and my hopes rose that she was finally getting over her fear of social events.

The day of the prom came; the six of us had been on a hunting trip all night, and when we returned after dawn the girls all disappeared into Alice's room. Jasper, Emmett, and I went into Forks to pick up our tuxes and the flowers. I needed to ask my brothers something.

"What is it like, to express physical love?" I asked in as casual a tone as I could manage, as I drove along the highway toward town.

"It's like nothing else," grinned Emmett, who was riding shotgun. "Why, is tonight the night?" I could hear Jasper's low chuckle in the back.

"I don't know," I admitted miserably. "I want to wait until we're married, but Bella isn't keen on the idea of marriage at all, given her parents' failure."

"It's kind of against our nature to wait, once we're sure of what we want," Emmett said. "Rose and I didn't."

"Was she your first?" I asked.

"Well, no. But I was hers," he laughed outright now at my discomfiture.

Jasper sighed from the back, and exuded a calming influence. "I was experienced as well, both as a human and as a vampire. Alice wasn't. But Emmett is right; we don't put any artificial constructs over the situation. Do you think you might be over-thinking this whole thing, as you tend to do? Bella's part of our world now, much less fragile. Is she the one who's holding back?"

"No," I had to admit, "she doesn't seem inclined to wait."

"Well, then," Jasper said with a shrug. Emmett looked at me and winked suggestively. I winced.

"Thanks. I'll think about it." I badly wanted – no, needed – to ask Carlisle's advice. We got into town, and stopped by the formal wear store first. Emmett's suit needed some further adjustments, so I left them waiting there while I went over to the hospital, hoping to catch Carlisle in his office.

I was in luck. He smiled as I came in and put down the medical journal he was reading. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"We're getting ready for tonight," I answered, "and – I had a question."

"Oh?" He waited.

"It actually has nothing to do with tonight, per se…," I hedged. "I – uh – was talking with Emmett and Jasper earlier about – things, and… well, I understand the mechanics of it, but I – want to know what to expect when – two of… our kind make love to each other." I was having extreme difficulty getting the words out.

"Ah," said Carlisle. He contemplated me for a moment. "It's a very powerful thing, son, to express physical love. It can cause a permanent change in how we view… everything. Look at Esme and me. Of course, Bella's already changed you quite a bit, and you already know you love her."

"She's my world," I whispered.

"Exactly. So you may not experience any change. But the feeling is still quite intense. The word 'passion' will take on a whole new meaning." His eyes were soft. "It is not to be taken lightly."

"Trust me, I've been giving it plenty of thought," I said wryly.

"Knowing you as I do, I'm sure you have." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Do what feels _right_, son. For you and for her. It should be a mutual decision."

"Thank you, Carlisle."

I left feeling… better about things. Still not entirely sure what I wanted to do, but no longer feeling painted into a corner by expectations. Whatever happened, and whenever it happened, I wanted to be at peace with it.

Emmett's suit was ready by the time I returned to my brothers, and we went to the florist next. The shop was very busy, but I was prepared to be patient as I was still deep in thought. I realized I was probably over-thinking the whole thing again, but that was _my_ nature. I couldn't feel comfortable with a decision unless I had thought through every angle, considered every possible circumstance.

I finally decided that I would present the option for increased intimacy tonight, and let it be her choice. Her reactions to things could not always be predicted with certainty; it could be that when all the barriers were lifted in this situation, she would balk. Either way that it went would be fine with me, I told myself.

We finally got our order and left. The arrangement I had picked looked beautiful; I couldn't wait to see it on Bella. Emmett and Jasper eyed me as we headed back to the car.

"Are you all right about tonight, little brother?" Emmett's tone was almost affectionate, and I realized both of them were genuinely concerned about me. They knew it was all still new to me.

"I – think so," I said slowly. "Thank you, both of you. I'm really lucky to have you as brothers."

"Anytime," Jasper chuckled.

When we got back to the house we put the flowers in the refrigerator, then went up to my room to put our tuxes on. I put on some quiet background music to help settle my nerves. The girls weren't ready yet; I wondered idly what kind of transformation Alice had put Bella through. Eventually Emmett wanted to go down to watch a game on TV, and so the three of us headed downstairs and hunkered down in the living room to wait.

Suddenly Alice was at the top of the stairs. "Close your eyes and turn your backs!" she cried.

"Wait!" I cried, and dashed for the flowers, then resumed my place beside Emmett and dutifully closed my eyes. I was impatient to see Bella, to have her in my arms.

A long pause, the march of feet down the stairs. The rustle of skirts. Finally Alice said gaily, "All right, you can look now!"

The three of us wheeled as one and I opened my eyes eagerly; my eyes tracking immediately to Bella. I stood transfixed, looking at the gorgeous angel at the foot of the stairs, clad in a long, deep blue gown, her mahogany hair pinned up with curls cascading down around her shoulders. She looked at me with wide eyes, and her smile lit her face.

When I could, I moved to her, caressing her cheek gently. "Alice, Rosalie, thank you," I breathed. I pinned her flowers in her hair, then bent to kiss her. She took my face in her hands, returning the kiss.

Esme came down the stairs with her camera in her hands, wanting pictures of all of us. We obliged her as she called for various groupings and poses. Finally, she was satisfied with everything and we trouped out to the garage. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice were riding together in Rosalie's car, and I was taking Bella in my Aston Martin. She seemed surprised by this, but this certainly counted as a special occasion. And I had Bella all to myself.

We drove to the school and parked in the back lot. The dance was in the Gym, the largest of the buildings. I helped Bella out of the car and offered her my arm. She accepted gracefully and we drifted slowly over to the Gym amidst other couples walking in the same direction.

Once past the ticket table, I swung Bella out onto the dance floor in time for a slow number, followed by two faster ones. Bella was edgy at first, but relaxed into it as she saw that it wasn't a disaster area around her, no one was getting hurt.

After a bit, we wandered off the floor and went outside for some fresh air. Bella always did so well it was easy to forget that it was a constant struggle for control among so many humans. She was grateful for the chance to breathe untainted air. We stood together for awhile on the grass, my arms loosely around her, her head on my chest.

I put my hand under her chin to tilt her face up, and brought my lips to hers. Our kiss was electric, causing me to pull her tighter to me while she knotted her fingers in my hair with a gasp. When the kiss finally broke, I whispered her name against her skin, my lips traveling down her jaw to the hollow below her ear, her throat. Her fingers caressed my face, ran through my hair, setting my senses on fire. Our breathing grew ragged.

With what self-control I had left, I pulled back a bit to look into her eyes. "Bella, my love…"

"Yes, Edward?" Her voice was rough.

"I want you. Tonight, if you're willing. But not here. What if we stayed for a bit and mingled, and then I took you someplace – private?" I murmured.

"The meadow?" she breathed, still caressing my face.

"Yes, that would be perfect," I answered with a smile.

"Then yes, I can be sociable. For awhile." Her eyes were intense, burning into mine, curious. "But what made you change…"

My smile widened. "There were… several voices of reason." She grinned, delighted.

We stepped apart then and took a moment to regain our composure before heading back inside to socialize for awhile, holding hands. We chatted with Angela and Ben, making plans for another outing, talked to other people Bella knew, danced for awhile.

At one point Bella stiffened, looking at something over my shoulder. When I wheeled around quickly, I could not see what could have caused her reaction, and when I turned back to her she had her eyes on Alice and Jasper as they danced, her face bland.

A few hours later we were walking back outside, headed for the car. I asked her about her strange reaction earlier in the evening as I drove out of the parking lot; she shrugged and said only, "I thought I saw someone I knew." It seemed simple enough of a reason, so I let it drop.

We stopped briefly at home to strip out of our finery and put on other clothes. The house was dark; Carlisle and Esme were likely out hunting. We ran barefoot through the dark forest easily and were at the meadow in under an hour.

We walked hand in hand into the center of the meadow and stood looking at each other in the moonlight. I felt awkward at first, but as I gazed into Bella's eyes I began to feel surer of myself, feel the rightness of this moment in the context of our love for each other. The quiet aura of sensuality that Bella exuded contributed to that, I'm sure. Slowly, cautiously, I closed the small distance between us, making sure that this was what she wanted, too, not wanting to force myself on her.

When we were standing toe to toe, she wrapped her arms around my waist. I took her face in my hands, whispering her name softly, and kissed her gently. Her lips parted, and the kiss became deeper, more passionate as her hands came up to my face. We went down to our knees slowly, still locked in the kiss. Bella's hands traveled down to the front of my shirt, and she started to unbutton the buttons, hesitantly at first and then her fingers grew steady. When she finished, I shrugged the shirt off and began unbuttoning her blouse more quickly as her fingers traced my bare chest, sending ribbons of fire through me.

I broke the kiss, breathing hard, and brought my lips to her throat, kissing down in a line toward her waist, pulling her down sideways to the ground as I did so. Her hands went to my shoulders and she pulled me closer to her with a soft moan as I unfastened the top of her jeans and kept kissing. I slipped her jeans and panties off, tracing the lines of her hips first with my hands and then my lips. She pulled my face back to hers and we kissed again as she pressed herself against me, and I hitched her leg over my hip to caress the inside of her thigh gently as we kissed. Bella groaned into my mouth, moving against me urgently, then pulled back to unfasten my jeans. I rolled away to take them off, removing my underwear as well, then pulled her on top of me. It felt sublime to have her pressed against me with no clothing between us, and I took a moment to catalogue this experience, even as my body responded to her to grow impossibly harder.

"Remember to be gentle, my love," I breathed as I began to move my hips beneath her. She nodded her understanding as she began kissing my neck, nipping gently, moving in a gentle rhythm against me. I smiled as I caressed her cheek. "Someone's being a naughty little vampire," I whispered. Bella laughed softly and began kissing down the length of my body, rolling off me to continue down past my waist. I shuddered lightly as my level of arousal increased exponentially, and then a sobering thought hit me. To continue, I might have to hurt her… she was a virgin… but I couldn't bring myself to cause her pain, no matter how briefly.

I rolled up on one elbow and pulled Bella up to tuck her into my side, locking eyes with her. I caressed her face, and then trailed my hand down slowly the length of her body, watching her closely as I brought it between her thighs. Her breathing, already hard, turned ragged as she rubbed herself against me, and I slipped two fingers inside her to feel for the hymen. The membrane was intact but thin and flexible; I stretched it carefully while watching her for any indication of pain. Bella seemed unaware of what I was trying to do, but very aware of where I was touching her; she moved urgently against my hand, her eyes still caught in mine, and her body began to shudder. In the end, I broke her hymen quite by accident as she thrust against my fingers, crying out not in pain but in pleasure. Quickly, I moved my hand away to slip myself inside her and pulled her to me as my own passion threatened to overwhelm me. I wasn't going to last long, this first time.

At the moment of my release, I experienced a feeling so intense that I felt I had been pushed into another plane of existence. More intense than any time I'd come before, in my pants. Everything was so bright and clear, it was almost painful. My body was in frenzy, and I held Bella tight to me as if I would put my whole self inside of her. She was straining against me as well, hoarsely whispering my name over and over, as if she could not get close enough to me as she came with me.

We did not stop to rest; there was no need. We coupled again and again in various positions, each climax seeming more intense than the one before. Dawn came, and we were still at it. Although we did stop to talk now and again, our bodies never broke contact. It was glorious, it was freeing. We were finally together, in every sense of the word.

Later that morning, Bella was finally open to discussion of a legal union. We had talked about various practices and customs in the past as my research had progressed, but she had expressed no inclinations or preferences. But as she explained now, we had already done all the things that signified we were married in many cultures, and we had already pledged ourselves to each other forever. The only thing that held her back, she'd suddenly realized, was her youth, and that could no longer be a factor. She was ready.

That summer was the happiest of my life, as Bella agreed to a hand-fasting ceremony performed by a Justice of the Peace, with our parents and my family, now hers as well, as witnesses. Charlie signed the marriage application form with her, as was required by law for Washington, and Bella presented her driver's license as proof of age. We didn't tell any of our classmates until after the ceremony; Bella didn't want to have to deal with any snide comments beforehand, but we did send out announcements after the fact. Actually, Alice took care of that detail, as for the rest of the summer we took our honeymoon on a private island my family had bought many years ago for occasional vacations. Carlisle and Esme took care of Bella's name change for all of her official documents and school records; she would no longer be Isabella Marie Swan, but Bella Marie Cullen. Legally a part of me. Forever.

* * *

omigolly * shivers *

So, obviously, there's still another year of high school to go through... the 'announcements' that I envision Alice sending are more like adoption announcements, welcoming Bella into the Cullen family (since no one in Forks knows that she and Jasper are married, nor that Rosalie and Emmett are).

What do you think?


	6. Chapter 6 Virginia

More people are starting to sit up and take notice of my story here, for which I'm grateful!

Now we'll see what was making Bella twitchy at the end of the last chapter...

Again, I do not own these characters, nor is any infringement intended on the rights of Stephenie Meyer or her publishing company. I just like to play!

* * *

**Chapter 27 Victoria**

For our senior year of high school, I had managed to make arrangements for Bella and me to share every class together, along with Alice. Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper had graduated and moved on to college; Emmett and Rosalie had gone up to Alaska, while Jasper attended the state university so he could be near Alice.

At lunch we sat together with Bella's friends. Bella was still wearing contacts and make-up to blend in more easily, and no one seemed uncomfortable with us, even though the three of us sat without eating. Bella still clung to that element of her humanity that allowed her to reach out and interact with humans as if she was still one herself.

It was the second day of school, and Bella, Alice and I were walking to English class from lunch when Bella stiffened mid-step, staring straight ahead. "What is it?" I asked, anxious.

She didn't answer me. "Alice," she murmured instead, "are there any vampires in town? I mean, besides us?"

Alice looked down at her feet. "Yes."

"Victoria," Bella answered, looking at me. "I've seen her a couple of times now. She never really left after James died, did she?"

"No, not really," Alice said slowly. "She might go away for a time, but she keeps coming back. Waiting for a good moment."

"A good moment?" I asked, angry that I hadn't been aware of this at all. I hadn't picked up any thoughts, any scents. And no one in our family had even mentioned she was still in the area.

"She blames Bella for James' death. She's waiting for the opportunity to get Bella alone." Alice turned to me. "This has been pretty much going on since we came back to Forks after James died, but it hasn't been a big priority because she keeps in the background. She's wary of us and isn't going to take us on; she's just going to wait for her chance to strike with the greatest chance for success. She's alone now, with Laurent being up in Denali."

"He's still up there?" I remembered that he'd been intrigued with our way of life and had planned to head to Denali to get a better feel for it when we'd had to scramble to get Bella out of town because of James tracking her.

"Yes, apparently he and Irina are an item now. We'll see them together around the holidays." Alice's face was bland.

"Hmmm." I stored that away for later. Right now my primary concern was keeping Bella safe. "So… we need to make sure Bella is never alone where Victoria can get to her."

"That's right. Our bases have been covered pretty well so far. We're in classes together, she's with us at the house, you and she were away for that extended period of time, and you generally hunt together. It won't be hard to protect her, Edward. She's much more durable now."

"But Victoria will just keep watching and waiting. She'll never stop. We need to find a more permanent solution, not just try to keep up our guard forever," I fretted.

"Edward. It's under control. We'll eventually get her." Alice spoke in clipped tones, glaring at me.

"Is she still there?" I asked Bella. She shook her head. "Fine. Let's get to class," I said, glaring back at Alice.

I stayed on alert after that, especially when we were hunting. Bella didn't say anything, and seemed content to bide her time, participating in everyday high school life to the fullest. We still went to Charlie's house every day after school to do our homework and make dinner for Charlie, though we tended to leave right after dinner these days.

At home, Esme had turned the bedrooms on the third floor into a suite for us and Bella and I spent a good deal of time there, reveling in the relative, if not absolute, privacy. We enjoyed expressing our love for each physically and usually spent the entire night indulging ourselves. Emmett teased us that we were still nowhere near the level of physical expression that he and Rosalie tended to practice, but we ignored him. Broken furniture and damaged walls didn't really appeal to me much anyway.

One sunny weekend in late fall, when Emmett and Rosalie were home for Thanksgiving break, we all went backpacking up Mount Rainier. We climbed up well past where the tourists were and ranged out, looking for big game. Emmett was hoping to get a fat grizzly or two before hibernation season.

Lately I had been asking for one of our family members to accompany us and to stand guard over Bella while we hunted so that she would be not be unprotected, but with the whole family in the general area and Alice not seeing anything worrisome I allowed myself to relax and enjoy the hunt.

I was just finishing off a mountain lion when I heard a scream and my senses instantly went on the alert. Carlisle suddenly sped past me toward the summit and I was instantly behind him. His mind held one word that now took over mine in dread. _Bella._

Others of our family were converging on one area now, a cleft of rock in a heavily wooded area. Alice was straining to reach something caught in the rock, beating her fist against the stone desperately to loosen chunks of it. I came up beside her and looked down. Bella was caught in a fissure of rock, wedged tight. The fact that she could not use her newborn strength against it to free herself spoke volumes, and then I realized she was injured, missing both arms below the elbow.

I saw in Alice's mind what had happened, what she had seen too late. Victoria had surprised Bella when she had wandered away from the main group while tracking prey. She had taken advantage of the fact that Bella had never learned to fight and did her damage within minutes before fleeing at the sound of the alarm. She was nowhere in the area now, having taken off down the mountain in the opposite direction from us.

Carlisle surveyed the scene. "Edward, quickly. Run down to that construction area we passed on the road and get the jackhammer and anything else you can scavenge to help us here."

We needed to move fast, before Bella in her damaged state grew into the natural rock. I flew to the construction site and grabbed the jackhammer and a pulley arrangement, and streaked back to where the family was still working to get Bella out before it was too late. Emmett revved up the jackhammer and applied it to the rock while Carlisle and I snaked the ropes from the pulley arrangement down and around Bella's shoulders. Jasper climbed a tree overhead and fastened the pulleys to an overhanging branch, then threaded the other ends of the ropes through and back down to us.

Carlisle and I started pulling on the ropes and were able to pull Bella up little by little as Emmett freed more of the rock around her. Alice, Esme, and Rosalie sifted through the rock fragments to find Bella's missing forearms, which were thankfully intact of themselves; Victoria hadn't had time to break them down further.

As soon as Bella was free, I gathered her up in my arms and ran, Carlisle close behind me. We got her to the cars we'd left at the park, and Carlisle started tending to her as I drove us home. Bella was very quiet, though I was sure she was in excruciating pain from her injuries.

At home, Carlisle swiftly carried Bella up to his office to finish working on her, and I followed more slowly as my thoughts became consumed with ending Victoria's existence. This passivity on our parts could not be allowed to go on.

Carlisle caught the tenor of my thoughts by my facial expression when I entered the room. "Easy, son. Bella's all right. Her arms are healing quickly. We'll deal with Victoria in good time."

"In good time?" I spat out. "It's _past_ time. Look what happened here today, we nearly lost Bella, and it only took a minute."

"I do need to learn to defend myself," Bella put in mildly. She was sitting up in a chair, her entire torso and both arms ensconced in braces and wraps. I went to her and knelt by her side, agony washing over me at the thought of what she had just been through, the pain she must still be in. She smiled at me, though the smile did not reach her eyes. I stroked her cheek carefully.

"I agree," said Carlisle. "I'm going to ask the Denali clan to come down and work with us. They were planning to come down soon anyway for a social visit, to meet you formally." He smiled at Bella. "Tanya was a little miffed that they weren't invited to the wedding." Bella winced.

"Are you in pain, love?" I whispered, anxious.

"No, it's tolerable," she said lightly. "I'm just afraid of Tanya being angry at me."

"She'll get over it," I said drily, rolling my eyes.

The Denalis came two weeks later. Bella, Alice, and I came home straight from school rather than going to Charlie's when Alice told us they had arrived. Everyone was in the front room talking by the glass wall when we came in through the kitchen.

Bella's arms had healed well, within a day, and she had only needed the braces for a couple days beyond that. She'd stayed out of school while wearing them, not wanting to invite questions. I'd kept her up with schoolwork, as semester finals were approaching.

Tanya looked over as we came in, and approached us immediately, grabbing me for a passionate hug. "Congratulations!" I extricated myself quickly, embarrassed, and introduced her to Bella. "Glad to finally meet you," Tanya said to her, deadpan. "I've heard so much about you."

"Stop it, Tanya," I growled. Bella was frozen in place, a timid smile on her face. Tanya laughed then, and turned to the rest of her clan.

"Come meet our new cousin." Kate, Irina, Laurent, Carmen, and Eleazar joined her. I noticed that Laurent's eyes were no longer red, as they had been the last time I had seen him, but golden. So he had taken to our vegetarian lifestyle, likely encouraged by Irina, who stood curled against him now.

I made the appropriate introductions, drawing Bella close against me. She was still stressed, but managed to smile at each in turn and murmur hellos. I glared at Tanya until she apologized to Bella for scaring her. Bella accepted with good grace, although she remained glued to my side.

We talked for a bit, bringing each other up to date, and discussed the situation about Victoria. Apparently she'd been up to Alaska several times trying to solicit Laurent's help, but as he had become involved with Irina he had tried to stay out of the situation. He did warn us that she was quite cunning, as intelligent as James had been, and would not give up until she had succeeded at taking Bella away from me forever in vengeance for what had happened to James. He swore that his own allegiance lay with us, now.

After some time we went to the open field near the Olympian mountains. Bella was ready to learn basic fighting moves, and wanted me to teach her. I did try sparring with her for one round, but couldn't bear to pin her down, to imagine the best ways to kill her, and begged that someone else work with her. Emmett and Jasper were only too happy to take over, while the Denali clan looked on, offering pointers. After a bit they started taking turns working with her as well.

Kate, with a gleam in her eye, was eager to take a turn. As she and Bella started sparring, I suddenly realized why; Kate had been working on her special gift of being able to deliver electric shocks to her opponent, in effect tasering him or her, and wanted to try it on Bella. I shouted a warning for Bella to fall back, but Kate lurched forward before she could move and grabbed her arm. And then stopped, an amazed expression crossing her face, followed closely by frustration. And in the next moment I was there, yanking her away; I fell to the ground as I received the shock meant for Bella. Bella cried out and dropped to my side. "Edward! Edward, are you all right?"

I groaned and rolled over, glaring at Kate. She continued to look incredulously at Bella. "How did you not feel that?" she asked.

"Feel what? All I felt was your hand on my arm," said Bella, sounding distracted as she stroked my face. "Edward?"

I smiled at her and got up, pulling her up with me. "I'm all right, love. Kate here thought it would be funny to try her little gift on you and she got me instead when I tried to spare you. Apparently I needn't have tried." I looked her over carefully, then turned on Kate. "I'm angry that _you_ felt it necessary to try so hard to hurt her."

"I started on the mild setting," Kate said defensively. "I just couldn't believe she couldn't feel it, so I ramped it up a bit. I'm sorry," she apologized to both Bella and me.

Eleazar, who had been watching the whole exchange quietly, now stepped forward. "It's because her mind is shielded somehow. That's why she didn't feel anything." He looked at me. "I imagine you can't read her thoughts, either. I certainly can't get a read on her." He had the ability to see other vampire's gifts, measure the extent of them. Long ago he had helped me understand _my_ talent as a gift rather than a curse.

"No, I've never been able to, even when she was human. You said her mind is shielded?" I was aghast; I'd never considered it this way before. Kate's talent was not a physical property, it was an illusion sent to the mind of the victim, causing no actual harm. Bella's _shield_ protected her from this, just as it must protect her from other mental assaults, like my trying to read her mind.

"Not only that, but it must be a strong latent talent if she was able to block you as a human." Eleazar was impressed.

I knew it wouldn't help against Victoria, as that particular vampire had no offensive talents that affected the mind, but I had run across other vampires in my time, and had heard of others, who had such talents; such a gift as Bella's would serve her well in those circumstances. Eleazar had an additional thought: if she could learn to project her shield she could protect others as well. Bella looked very thoughtful as he posited this, and it wasn't hard to read her expression, if not her thoughts. After having been vulnerable for so long, nothing would please her more than having the ability to protect others.

"That'll be something to work on," I promised her. "In the meantime, I suppose you should keep on working on more physical skills." And I glared at Kate again, who shrank back to join the onlookers while Emmett stepped back up to take Bella on.

After several evenings of sparring practice and general maneuver training with her adopted brothers and cousins, Bella had a good understanding of the basic moves and attitude necessary to keep her safe in most situations. She had more trouble with offensive moves, being the peacemaker she was, but I wasn't concerned, as I felt that as long as Bella could keep herself safe I could move to take Victoria out of commission.

Alice, Bella, and I finished our finals for the semester on a Thursday afternoon and said goodbye to friends for winter break before going home to get ready for a camping trip in the Olympic Mountains. Alice was reasonably sure we would see Victoria there. Bella was anxious, which was heightened by the fact that I was taking a grim joy in planning Victoria's demise by my own hand.

The Denalis were coming with us too; between all of us there would be effective coverage of the entire mountain range. Victoria would not escape. I hoped that by being closest to Bella, I would have the best chance of being the one to finish her off.

We ran in small groups at different times, taking different routes. Tanya ran with Bella and me. She was curious about her new cousin and asked a lot of questions, but I sensed an undercurrent of jealousy in her tone; she couldn't see what had attracted me to Bella over her. I did my best to ignore it. Bella was still intimidated by her after that first impression, and it didn't help that she was aware Tanya had tried to win my affections in the past.

Once we reached the mountains we started to spread apart as we ran upward. I watched Bella disappear into the trees with something akin to despair. I could hear Tanya's thoughts plainly to my left but nothing at all from my right. Would I get to her in time if she needed me?

I reached my designated area, my senses hyper-aware, scanning constantly around me. I could hear those closest to me save for Bella: Tanya, Alice, Jasper, Carlisle. It was comforting to have them relatively nearby.

Nothing happened for a long time. A herd of elk crossed into my area and I hunted them, feeding on two great bucks while I waited. I wondered what Bella was doing to pass the time.

Alice alerted to me to Victoria's presence even as I saw the plume of red-orange hair through the trees as it moved swiftly toward Bella's sector. Alice was _very_ agitated, but kept me out of her mind by her usual tricks, so I had no idea what was wrong or if it meant that this encounter with Virginia would go badly. I hid myself and then followed Victoria so that I would come from behind her when she engaged Bella. Hard as it was, I kept well back so that she would not sense me near and get spooked.

Bella had apparently also been hunting, and was just rising from the carcass of a deer when she caught sight of Victoria and froze. She watched Victoria advance on her, motionless, and I was afraid she was too stressed to defend herself. Victoria stopped several paces from her and her expression suddenly turned gloating. Bella just stared at her.

"We meet at last." Victoria's high-pitched baby voice seemed incongruous with her formidable figure. Apparently she felt bolder this time, evidenced by her willingness to stand there and make declarations before engaging her prey. "You've caused me a lot of trouble. But finally I can end this. I stopped by to visit the police station first. It was very easy… only one person there..." The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I caught the thought in Victoria's mind before she said it. Oh, no. Dear God, no…

Victoria fixed Bella with a steely gaze. "I killed your father, you little witch. You destroyed my life and now I've destroyed yours. He's gone!"

Bella was frozen now in shock. The heartbreak written on her face was a terrible thing to behold. So much pain.

I wasn't sure that Bella would be able to defend herself now, nor care to in the face of this news, as Victoria began to advance on her again. I set myself to spring from a branch above, and was in mid-air when Bella finally dropped into a defensive crouch, her lips curling back from her teeth.

I landed on Victoria's shoulders lightly, bringing her to an abrupt halt and went straight for the jugular. She threw me off immediately and we began to circle each other. Victoria was desperately trying to move closer to Bella, but I was forcing her back. She tried to leap past me, and then we were fighting, streaky blurs of movement as we lay into each other in earnest.

I tagged her several times, ripping her clothes, and finally got in a good blow that sent her flying into the trees. She slammed into the massive trunk of a giant spruce, taking a good chunk out of the tree, and it appeared that her back was broken as well; she struggled to her feet but stood at an odd angle. I heard Bella gasp.

I went after Victoria again and successfully ripped into her neck this time, severing her head from her body. It fell to the ground and rolled toward Bella, the face a hideous mask framed by the wild red-orange hair. I snapped Victoria's limbs off her torso one by one, ripping each to pieces, then shredded the torso into several sections as well. It was remarkably cathartic to do this.

Bella helped me gather kindling to make a pyre in a small clearing and we stacked the quivering vampire pieces on top. I pulled a lighter from my pocket and set the pyre ablaze. We watched it for several minutes before I turned and drew her to me, kissing her as the rest of the family began to converge on us. "It's over, love, you're safe. I'm so sorry," I whispered as she hid her face in my chest, her body wracking in tearless sobs.

Carlisle, Esme and I brought Bella to the police station to claim Charlie's body and make arrangements with the town funeral home. Bella could barely function in her grief, but she made the necessary arrangements and called Renée.

Renée came up alone on the next flight and stayed in Charlie's house, helping Bella go through the contents. The funeral was large; everyone in town came, as did many of the Quileute from the reservation. Our family attended as well. Billy Black fixed Carlisle with a significant glare but did not approach him nor say anything about us as being responsible for Charlie's death. Carlisle eventually approached him as people started to wander away from the graveside, and spoke with him about what had happened. The treaty remained valid.

Renée stayed for a few days after the funeral to close up the house and list it with a realtor; when it sold the money would be deposited into an account for Bella. She spent some time with our family and talked with Esme at length.

"I'm so glad she has you to be her family now. Edward is so good to her," she said to Esme as they sat at the kitchen table together over cups of tea. I was in the next room with Bella but could overhear them easily. Esme was doing a wonderful job of putting Renée at ease; the tea was a nice touch. Bella was curled up against me on the couch, face tucked into my shoulder, succumbing to her grief for the moment as I held her gently, stroking her hair.

"We love her," Esme said simply. "She has been so good for Edward as well. He was such a lonely soul before he met her."

"I'm glad. I was worried about Bella getting married so soon, not even out of high school, but she's always known her own mind. So mature. She certainly knew what she was getting into, after seeing what happened with – Charlie and me." Her voice dropped to a whisper at those last words. "They seem perfect together."

"They are." I could hear the smile in Esme's voice.

It was early June, cloudy still most days but warm. Spring finals were over, and graduation day was coming up fast. Bella's first graduation from high school.

Alice had decided a party was the thing to do for the occasion, and was deep in plans. The whole graduating class was invited, as were Renée and Phil, though the latter two were not going to come. Carlisle and Esme would be there, though, and so would Emmett and Rosalie.

Bella, for her part, was doing her best to lay low and avoid attention, which she hated even now. She had recovered fairly well from Charlie's sudden death at Victoria's hands, and the unwanted attention that had been focused on her since then, finally able to smile and laugh again. She no longer needed the contacts, her eyes a beautiful shade of gold, and she had stopped wearing the make-up as well; no one had seemed to notice.

Graduation day was overcast but not rainy, which was good as it was to be held outdoors. Bella wore a navy blue dress under the yellow polyester graduation gown, managing to look unbelievably beautiful in the combination. I couldn't stop looking at her as we waited in line for the ceremonies to begin. Alice stood with us, a quietly amused expression on her face.

"So where are you two going to college?" Ben asked conversationally from his place near us in line. "I'll be at Washington State U."

"University of Alaska Southeast," Bella told him, adding, "we have relatives up there."

"Oh, well, that makes sense then. It _is_ kind of far from home." He smiled at her shyly.

"We don't mind," Bella smiled back. The processional march started just then, and we filed into the stands to take our seats. I could see Billy Black in the audience and pointed him out to Bella, who nodded nervously. She took my hand and squeezed tightly; I gave her hand an answering squeeze and laced my fingers through hers.

The speeches seemed to drone on and on, saying nothing new; I ignored them, watching Bella who sat quietly playing with our fingers. "What are you thinking, love?" I whispered.

"Just that this is another chapter over in our lives and a new one about to begin." To her it was still all new. I thought about that for a moment, and hoped I would be able to share that sense of wonder with her, the way she had awakened other things for me.

"Looking forward to that?" I whispered again, smiling.

"Yes, because I'll have you with me. We'll have forever to explore."

"Forever," I agreed and kissed her.

Finally the calling of names began to accept diplomas. "… Benjamin Arthur Cheney. Alice Mary Cullen. Bella Marie Cullen. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen…" I let go of Bella's hand so that she could cross the stage solo; she reclaimed mine when I joined her at the other side, still nervous. We filed back to our seats, then a cheer went up as the last person joined us and we threw our caps in the air. I snagged Bella's on its way down; this was one she would want to keep for posterity, ugly as it was, with the gold honors tassel on it.

After the ceremony we left to get ready for the party. Alice had already done all the decorations before we left our house this morning; all we needed to do was put out the food and start the music. Bella and Esme handled the food while Alice and I got the music set up. We had brought my sound system down from my room; it served the function well. The speaker setup made it sound as if we had live performers in the front room.

The first people to arrive were Angela and Ben, asking if they could help with anything. I sent them on to Bella, who welcomed them warmly and asked them to sample some of the food to see what they thought of it. She had made some of it while other items had been ordered. They gave her raving thumbs-up reviews and she beamed.

The house slowly filled up with our classmates and Bella greeted every one, chatting casually as if she'd been at ease with large groups of people all her life. I stood nearby for support and watched her in amazement; it was such a difference in her from this morning when she had been a basket of nerves.

I asked her at one point, _sotto voce_, how she was managing to hold up and she laughed. "Mind over matter." I blinked, surprised, and she went on, "I just decided that I could do this for this event, and I can. I want to leave a good last impression. Most of these people I'm never going to see again." I saw her point.

There was a sudden sharp rap at the front door. Bella looked puzzled; everyone we were expecting was here already. Then she shrugged and went to the door. I frowned as I realized who was standing on our front porch, and followed her.

"Jacob! It's good to see you!" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

He was not so polite. "We need to talk," he sneered, looking as if he smelled something bad.

"Now?" she asked, indicating the party scene behind her. "Can't it wait?"

"Not really," he answered, openly hostile now as he saw me standing with her. "It's long past due."

She slipped out onto the porch beside him; I followed and closed the door. "What is it, Jake? Is Billy OK?"

"Yes, he's fine. He wants me to pass on a message." Jacob's fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides, as if he was struggling to control himself.

I frowned. Billy had left immediately after the graduation this morning, but I hadn't gotten the sense that he was upset.

"So you're his messenger boy now. What is it?" Bella was starting to get upset at his attitude. I put a hand on her shoulder, looking impassively at Jacob, hoping he would take the hint to calm down.

"He said to tell you the wolves are coming, that they're already here. It's time for you to go." He glared at her, his eyes hard.

"Go? As in away? But where?" she asked, confused.

"Anywhere but here. Billy warned Carlisle quite some time ago to leave, after they brought you back from Phoenix. You've overstayed your welcome."

As if on cue, Carlisle came through the front door to join us. He had heard us talking. "Jacob, please _remind_ your father we'll be leaving soon. We were just waiting for Bella to graduate, to cross this last milestone in familiar surroundings. She's been through a lot this past year. I hope he can appreciate that."

"That's not for me to say," Jacob replied, but he seemed less hostile suddenly. Now he just looked uncomfortable.

"I understand. Just pass it on, please. Is there anything else we can do for you today, Jacob Black?" Carlisle asked kindly.

"No, that's it." Jacob started backing off the porch, then turned around and started to run. As he ran, he suddenly changed shape, to become a large red-brown wolf. Bella gasped, and I pulled her to me, tucking her face in my chest. The wolf that had been Jacob Black loped into the woods and disappeared.

"I remember…" Carlisle said, and his voice drifted off as he recalled the time long ago when he and his family had been found in the woods near the reservation by wolves that became men, and how they had worked out a treaty to protect both their interests. I remembered too. He sighed and said, "We need to leave."

"When?" Bella asked, stricken, pulling her head from my chest and stepping back from my arms.

"Soon. We'll start planning after the party." He smiled at her. "Go back inside. Enjoy your guests. Edward and I need to talk for a bit." She went back inside reluctantly, looking back at me before shutting the door behind her.

"I guess we should have expected this. Our family is larger than the last time, and we've had all of these guests, welcome and not, that have come through. No wonder the tribe is agitated." Carlisle was being philosophical about the whole thing.

"Do you think Bella's ready for this? This is going to be a big step for her." I fretted on her behalf.

"She's had more time here than we expected she would have," Carlisle reminded me. "I think she will fare better than you realize."

"Where shall we go _this_ time?" I asked. Time to start the cycle over yet again. I grimaced.

"Didn't she mention she would like to go to England if she had the chance? We haven't been there in awhile." Carlisle smiled. He'd been born there, of course.

"All right," I sighed.

Carlisle's smile grew wider. "We'll tell the family tonight."

* * *

I didn't see any need to take Laurent down... I didn't see him as truly evil even when he would have killed Bella in Stephenie's version of these events, it was just unfortunate timing. So I spared him for Irina's sake :)

I also saw no need to bring out the wolves, or do the whole change thing with Jake... those who are Team Jacob may disagree with me for this, but since Edward never left in _this_ version, I saw no reason to triangulate Bella, Edward, and Jacob.

This story is about to take a major leap into the future... by about a century. This of course leaves plenty of room for outtakes, etc. should I decide to turn back to an earlier period later to fill it in...

I'll probably post the next update on Wednesday.


	7. Chapter 7 The Decision

**Omigosh! My readership _doubled_ overnight (in terms of how many new people favourited this story and/or added it to their story alerts)!! THANK YOU!! it makes the the cockles of my little heart proud to know that people are reading and enjoying this :)**

**Now, don't stay silent, y'all! I want to hear from you!!**

**So... as was hinted at in the summary, this story is about to leave Earth... quite literally. I should mention at this juncture that I am a HUGE science fiction and fantasy fan, and what originally drew me to Twilight was NOT the love story, but the way the vampire lore was explained (though I have some issues with Stephenie's view of their physiology, being the purist I am).**

**Now, that being said, I am still intrigued by the relationship between Edward and Bella, and I hope that I am reproducing it fairly faithfully, given the changes I've made in the storyline. I really don't want to put them out of character too much, or why bother to use them at all? for this story, which is definitely going to be diff from what I've seen here in the Twilight 'verse. And I enjoy being in Edward's head, he has such a dark, delicious mind... muhahahaha...**

**Okay, time to get this puppy rolling...**

* * *

**Chapter One: The Decision**

"Edward. Bella. Rosalie. Emmett. Alice. Jasper." Carlisle called the names without raising his voice as he sat at the head of the mahogany table in the dining room, Esme by his side. The dawn showed greyly through the window behind him. From our various pursuits around the house, we came instantly, each of us taking seats at the table. I held out Bella's chair for her, between myself and Esme. Alice and Jasper sat across from us, while Rosalie and Emmett took the other end of the table. We all looked expectantly toward Carlisle, our leader, our father figure in this family.

Carlisle sat pensively, his gold eyes sweeping over each of our faces in turn. I took Bella's hand underneath the table and twined my fingers through hers; she squeezed my fingers briefly, her attention on Carlisle. Only a minute before, we'd been in each other's arms…

We were in the town of Forks, in Washington State. I had asked to come back here when Carlisle had asked us a few years ago if there were any 'special requests,' as we had not been back since Bella had graduated high school there nearly a century ago for the first time. Somehow I had known it might be the last chance I would have, to go back and see the little town where I had first met Bella, where our relationship had begun and flowered, and we had become bonded together in every sense of the word. We had stayed away once we'd left, sensitive to the fact that it had been painful for Bella after her father had died, that being there only heightened the pain. And of course, we had to let time pass to let the people of Forks forget we had ever existed…

Time did not fade memories for us as it did for humans. But Bella had become philosophical about her father's death, had put it into the greater context of the flow of human life and events, and had even seemed pleased when I had made the suggestion, wanting as I did to re-live the happier memories of that time.

We were both enrolled at the high school, now in our senior year along with Alice; our 'older' brothers and sister had graduated last year. Bella, her grip on humanity as tight as ever despite nearly a century of being a vampire, had made several friends among the human students, and the three of us often joined them at events. Alice was of course her best friend, her constant friend no matter where we might find ourselves, but Bella treasured these frail human friendships as well, even knowing that they could not last.

And in a sense, her continued connection to the human world kept our relationship humming with excitement. Not that I could ever take our love for granted, for to us the feelings were forever fresh, forever intense. But the inspiration she received allowed her to keep coming up with new ways to express her love for me…

I stared at Carlisle now, trying to read what was coming, but his thoughts were carefully guarded. This was big, then. After a long silence he finally spoke.

"Edward, Bella, and Alice will be graduating from high school shortly, and rather than following our usual progression of events, I think it's time to chart a new course. A course to the stars."

Sharp intakes of breath all around the table. I wasn't quite so shocked as the others, as I'd seen this on his mind several times in recent years, but was still surprised that it was coming up _now_, and wondered what had tipped his hand. We still had a few years that we could spend in Forks; our secret was still safe here.

He continued quietly, his gaze continuing to sweep the table. "Our planet's atmosphere is becoming more unstable again with the recent upswing in industrialization overseas, and Alice's visions are getting more dismal in this regard. No matter where we move on _this_ planet, we will be at risk if the trend continues. Since none of us is up for public office…" he inserted wryly, with a smile in Jasper's direction. Jasper, for his part, looked properly horrified. He could not even conceive of participating in the petty human drama, even though he had the potential to sway the overall tide to a course more beneficial to this Earth.

"Is it so hopeless then?" Rosalie spoke up now. She was loathe to uproot herself, to face the unknown. Here her beauty worked for her, opened doors for her. Who knew what would be the case _out there_? I almost smiled. Rosalie was so predictable.

"No, but this is a pivotal time." Carlisle's voice remained steady and calm. "First, it's an election year, and both the incumbent and his rival will be doing nothing more than posing this year, while the environment continues to crumble around them. In the meantime, the civilian space program has taken an important step forward recently, as they have announced plans to send an explorer ship to Alpha Centauri. The probes indicated that several of the planets in that double system were capable of sustaining life. And who is better suited than our kind, for such a journey?"

Silence greeted his question. With the sudden stress, all of us were motionless, frozen in place like statues. All of our eyes remained riveted on his face.

My family's voices were strong in their minds. Jasper was worried for Alice's sake; he had no idea how he could ensure her safety in an alien environment. Alice was concerned about some danger she saw in our future if we did nothing and stayed on Earth, some natural disaster. Emmett was up for the adventure but uncertain of the threat that was involved. Rosalie wanted no part of it. Esme wanted her family to remain together, no matter what…

And Bella? Who knew… even after over a century of us being together, I still could not read her thoughts, could not predict her reaction to this.

Carlisle smiled then as he gazed on his family, releasing us from our blocks of ice. "Of course I would never force this decision on any of you. I would love dearly to keep us all together, but I will respect whatever decision you make. This would be a fairly permanent thing though – it wouldn't be as in the past where some of you have gone off on your own for a time and rejoined us later. I'm not sure the opportunity will come more than once."

"Discussion?" I asked, squeezing Bella's hand and bringing it up to my lips before putting it upon the table between us, still tightly clasped in mine. "I can hear all of your thoughts, of course, but I think you need to hear each other's."

"Why don't _you_ tell us, Edward?" Rosalie asked with heavy sarcasm. I knew she was ready to walk away. I still wasn't sure how I felt now that the decision was suddenly before us; I needed to know Bella's thoughts.

"Perhaps _you_ should tell us why you're so opposed to this," I answered, smirking. Six other yellow pairs of eyes turned to focus on Rosalie, while I tried in vain to read my lover's expression. Her face was impassive and seemed untroubled. Her amber eyes flicked to mine and then away again; she seemed interested in what Rosalie had to say.

Rosalie glowered in my direction. "I'm settled and I'm happy here. I don't want to move again just yet. There's no immediate danger that I can see, and I haven't heard anything convincing me otherwise."

"So… cataclysmic event… certain future doom… only one chance for escape… doesn't do it for you?" Alice asked icily. I suddenly saw what she'd been hiding, and I gasped; she looked at me in chagrin as all other eyes swiveled first to me, then to her. Jasper looked alarmed, and his influence of the mood over the room wavered as the tension climbed.

"You've only talked about trends. Things change. The human world is so transitory, I can't believe we could get caught up in what _might_ happen." Rosalie seemed irritated, nothing more.

Emmett didn't seem so sure. "I don't know that I'd go betting against Alice, without knowing what she saw. Whatever it is sounds _big_, Rose."

"Big enough to kill off _vampires_?" Rosalie scoffed, unruffled. "You know how Edward over-reacts to everything. He could be just trying to scare us."

Carlisle asserted his authority. "Alice, why don't you tell us all what you've seen? We need to put everything on the table to help everyone decide."

Alice grimaced. Instinctively, I drew closer to Bella and wrapped my free arm around her waist, laying my cheek against hers. She leaned into me in response, her eyes on Alice.

"I see… different things. It depends on so many decisions that haven't been made yet, but the general sense is that the weather patterns get severe enough to affect the Earth's crust. You're right that most natural disasters wouldn't kill us… flood, tornado, hurricane, avalanche, tsunami… but if the earth were to open up beneath us, in the presence of fire or lava, well, we wouldn't fare so well."

Rosalie shuddered briefly, then shook her head. "You're being dramatic. What are the odds of _that_ happening? How could the forces of nature be thrown off so far by mere _humans_?" But there was a faint edge of hysteria in her voice.

"You forget that we very nearly escaped another Ice Age many years ago by humans becoming aware of the effects of global warming, and changing their collective habits." I spoke quietly, to offset the tension. "As individuals, humans are no threat to us. As a civilization, all bets are off, and you should know that as well as I do."

Bella leaned away from me then, and regarded me thoughtfully. I could no longer bear not knowing her take on this situation. "What are you thinking, love?"

"You sound as though you're writing off humanity," she observed, her golden eyes burning into mine. "Are you saying that they're not worth fighting for?"

"Not at all. I'm just helping Rosalie appreciate what we're up against." I stroked her cheek gently. Even after all this time, I remembered the frail little human she'd once been, and how she'd reawakened the human I had thought long dead within me. "I cannot forget where we came from, and how I found you."

"I don't think this is something we can _fight_," Jasper said slowly. "It's not as if we can take one stand, one field, and have it matter across the _world_. I'm getting the sense that the threat has outgrown the power of the humans to really reverse."

"Not in _time_," Alice agreed. "and not before any chance for escape is gone." Her words hung in the air.

I looked deep into Bella's eyes, and she returned my gaze. Did she wish to stay and fight for our past, for all we had known, or did she want to start anew in a truly foreign land?

As if she could hear my thoughts, she spoke quietly, to me alone. "This is the only world I've ever known… but not the only life. I've made… adjustments before. But I cannot imagine a universe where you don't exist."

"Who is to say that we would ultimately survive in a new world?" I asked softly. "Our… immortal natures might only be valid in the confines of _this_ world."

"Regardless," she whispered, after a brief hesitation. "I am not afraid to find out, as long as I am with you." My eyes were caught in hers; suddenly it was as if we _were_ the only two people in the room. I stroked her cheek again, then leaned in and kissed her gently. Her fingers knotted in my hair as she held me close, kissing me back.

Jasper cleared his throat and turned to Carlisle. "So, what's the plan? We all seem to be aboard now."

I pulled away from Bella to scan everyone's thoughts. Even Rosalie nodded at Jasper's words, though her face was dark. She had been convinced by my argument, though she still hated the thought of leaving all she knew. I nodded to Carlisle, who relaxed visibly. Esme sighed happily beside him, pleased that her family would remain together.

Carlisle then looked a little apologetic. "I've already booked us all passage on the _Galaxian_. I wanted to ensure that we'd have our choice of accommodations. We head down to Florida after graduation to start training for space travel." I felt Bella flinch beside me and knew that she was remembering her mother, who had lived in Jacksonville until her death many years ago.

Florida wasn't so sunny anymore. Weather trends these past few years had intensified the storm season, and there were many more days of rain and clouds, though we would still need to be careful.

"To boldly go where no one has gone before, to seek out new life and new civilizations… and eat them," Emmett intoned with a snicker. Carlisle gave him a thoughtful look.

"We may need to re-define our lifestyle, depending on what we find. I would like to continue to avoid having any sentient species in our food supply," Carlisle said gravely. "Food for thought," he added wryly, lightening the mood.

Alice laughed. "Things are looking brighter already. Hey, Edward, Bella, we need to get ready for school. We have that big science test today, did you study?" I rolled my eyes at her and stood, still holding Bella's hand. Bella stood too, and we drifted upstairs to get ready for what promised to be an interesting day.

* * *

**So this chapter's fairly short, and I had an unexpected 'free night', so I'm putting this up now, and immediately starting work on editing the next chapter. Did I set this up well enough for everyone? Any questions about the passage of so much time? I do intend to go back at some future time and do some 'filler' stories of the intervening years, but this current story is the one I envisioned when I started writing, so here we are ;)**

**Review, please!**


	8. Chapter 8 Nostalgia? or Nausea?

**So the Cullen clan is going to boldly go where no one has gone before, seek out new life and new civilizations, and hopefully not need to eat them! but first Edward and Bella need to finish out high school and say their goodbyes to Forks...**

**My thanks and appreciation to Amber, who has been checking in with me nearly every chapter and providing support!!**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Nostalgia? or Nausea?**

Forks High School looked much the same as it had a century ago, though of course there had been renovations to the buildings themselves. Rather than tearing everything down and consolidating into one building, each department remained in its own building, giving off a certain small-town charm.

I parked the car in the back lot, and the three of us got out into the crowd of students that was filtering from the lot onto the campus. Alice skipped ahead while Bella and I walked more slowly, holding hands. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia for the place where I had found my love so long ago, and had the sense that Bella did too as she squeezed my hand. We were often on the same wavelength, even though I could not read her thoughts.

"Are you going to miss all of this?" I asked her gently.

"Forks will always have a special place in my heart," she answered quietly. "Some places more than others. You?"

"Yes," I answered simply, "for probably the same reasons as you, romantic fool that I am. I haven't asked you yet, love…" I pulled her underneath the eave of the cafeteria roof and drew her to me, wrapping my arms around her waist. She looked up at me, questioning, and I could not help but smile as I went on, "would you do me the honor of allowing me to take you to prom?" It was only a couple of weeks away now; I was embarrassed I hadn't thought to ask before.

I'm sure she would have blushed if she could. We both remembered her reluctance of a lifetime ago. She looked down for a moment, then back at me with a beautiful smile. "Yes, I would like that."

"You've made an old man very happy," I whispered, and kissed her on the forehead, mindful of the eyes of students milling around us. Not that anyone paid us much attention; it was hardly news that we were a well-established couple. She giggled and poked my ribs gently before pulling away.

We went on to our first class together, Physics. Bella was a little nervous as we sat down, worrying about the exam. Setting up the math was always her sticking point, though it had come easier to her with my patient tutelage. She needn't have worried; the test was very straightforward. I was done first; from what I could see she was on the right track and I gave her an encouraging smile as I brought my test to the front and left the room. She came out soon after, breathing a sigh of relief, and we walked back to the car to listen to music while waiting for our next class. Of course, we couldn't just sit there and listen… the chemistry between us was just too intense…

We disentangled as the quiet beep of the car's chronometer sounded, warning that it was time to head to our next class, and straightened clothes and hair before stepping out of the car. She looked at me sheepishly, and I grinned back at her as I took her hand and steered us back onto campus. After all this time, we still couldn't help getting carried away when we were alone together; if anything, the passage of time had only served to intensify our feelings for each other.

Alice met up with us at the door to the classroom; the three of us had English together. "Hey, how was the test?"

"Not bad," Bella laughed. "Oh, Alice, guess what? Edward asked me to prom!" The girls squealed and hugged each other while I chuckled. Bella never ceased to amaze me with her reactions.

"Jasper's taking me, of course. Do you want to go dress shopping in Olympia next week? All the stores will be having specials." Alice's eyes were shining at the thought of some serious girl-time. Bella agreed eagerly.

The morning flew by with Bella by my side – we had every class together this year – and then we were walking together into the cafeteria. Bella excused herself to go talk to a fellow student at one of the tables, and I went ahead through the line to assemble our lunch props. I brought our tray over to our usual table and sat with Alice.

Bella was still across the cafeteria, but she looked upset now, her arms crossed over her chest as she spoke to a tall, handsome boy standing at the table who had expressed an interest in her in the past. I groaned inwardly as I reached out to his mind to "listen in"; Bella had difficulty at times extricating herself from emotionally charged situations involving humans, as she hated to hurt anyone's feelings. She'd originally gone over to tell her friend Marilyn not to worry about the Physics test, but now Peter had asked her about the prom. "You hang out with your brother too much, you owe it to the rest of us to sample the field," he was accusing her, his mind full of fantasies about the two of them. I hadn't paid attention to him in awhile, and hadn't realized that his mind had continued to fester even after he'd realized that Bella and I were together. That he considered us just brother and sister. I debated coming to Bella's aid, not sure whether that might make it worse for her.

She seemed to be holding her own. "Peter, I'm taken," she said simply. "If you're still looking for a date at this point, I suggest you ask Pat. I'm pretty sure she's interested." Pat was sitting next to Marilyn, looking up at Peter with a puppy-dog expression.

"She's not _you_," he growled, and suddenly he was leaning forward, gripping her arms. The girls gasped, and I was out of my seat and by Bella's side in the next instant.

"Bella, love, I was getting worried. Your food's getting cold." I said lightly. Peter let go of her arms immediately, glowering at me, though I paid him no attention. It would not have gone well with him if I did; my mind seethed with thoughts of violence, though I quickly tried to control it. I concentrated on Bella, taking her by the arm and steering her away with a cheery backward wave to the girls. She didn't resist.

Back at our table, she leaned heavily against me. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'm not sure where he was going with that, but I didn't think I could get away without hurting him."

Alice was perturbed. "It's not over," she informed us. "You just made him mad. He plans on confronting you in the parking lot after school." She appraised me with a critical eye. "Apparently he thinks he can take you on."

"Don't hurt him!" Bella pleaded.

"Why, is he important to you?" I asked drily. "Did he ask you to prom first?"

"No, I think he assumed he didn't need to ask. When he confronted me just now, he just asked what flowers he should get to match my dress," she replied, her voice still unbelieving.

I laughed with dark humor. "Maybe we should leave for our camping trip early, give him a chance to cool off."

"That would be best," Alice affirmed. "At least, it will put off the carnage."

"But not stop him?" Bella asked. Alice shook her head. Bella groaned against my chest, and I rolled my eyes. Spare me the drama...

"Well, we'll deal with it when it comes," I said finally, stroking Bella's hair gently. "Anyone have any tests to take or classes they can't miss this afternoon?" I knew Bella and I were clear, so I turned my gaze on Alice. She shook her head again. "Then let's go."

We rose and dumped our trays, then drifted out of the cafeteria to the parking lot. It was Friday and we had the weekend ahead of us, with plans for a family camping trip. I knew Jasper and Emmett would be happy to see us back earlier; they were thirstier than the rest of us due to the timing of our previous trips.

~xXx~xXx~

I sat on a boulder with Emmett, watching Jasper finish off his kill. We had been hunting all morning, and I was happily full of the blood of mountain lions while Emmett had feasted on bears. Jasper was enjoying a bobcat, curling his lean body around the cat's fierce form as he drained it of life.

"What do you think we'll find for food at the new digs?" Emmett asked rhetorically. "I hope there's something resembling a grizzly there."

I smiled; Emmett loved his grizzlies. I wasn't particularly worried. Right now my arms ached for Bella; when she and I hunted alone together we often finished off with a long session of love-making, as the sensuality of the hunt always aroused us both. I hoped she was having fun with Alice and Rosalie. Carlisle and Esme were off hunting by themselves.

Jasper loped over to us gracefully, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'm up for a swim." There was a mountain lake below us. We ran down the slope as we stripped down, laughing. Emmett draped his clothes on a tree limb and jumped in; Jasper and I followed suit. The three of us cavorted about, splashing water in each other's faces and horsing around.

"May we join you?" We looked up to see Carlisle and Esme standing on a boulder watching us. Esme smiled indulgently at our playfulness. Carlisle looked amused.

"C'mon in, the water's fine!" Emmett's voice rang out. Carlisle stripped quickly, leaving his clothes on the boulder, and dove in. Esme hesitated, suddenly realizing she was the only female and the mother figure besides. I waded over to her and stretched my hand up to her, smiling.

"Come on, Mom. I'll protect you from the wild boys." My smile widened. She nodded then and slipped into the water beside me, her clothes folded neatly on the boulder. Carlisle appeared beside her from under the water, and I released her to him as I swam back to my brothers. I suddenly wished again that I had Bella beside me. I scanned out, looking for Alice's mind. The girls were still hunting. I sighed, and caught Emmett by surprise, dragging him under the surface of the water. Before he could grab me, I flashed up and put Jasper between us; Jasper howled as Emmett grabbed him around the knees and pulled him down.

"Who's a wild boy _now_?" laughed Emmett as we both resurfaced. Jasper followed a second later, grinning. We continued playing about in the water while our adoptive parents looked on, content to see us so happy and carefree. I knew Carlisle was savoring this family moment, trying not to think of what the future held.

Eventually the girls found us. They watched our horseplay from the water's edge, admiring our bodies in the afternoon sun. I felt Bella's gaze on me and turned to look at her; she was rumpled and dusty from her hunt, bits of fern clinging to her hair. I smiled and ducked under the water, resurfacing near her. My smile widened as I looked deep into her eyes and held out my arms invitingly. Her breath caught; she stripped quickly and leapt lightly into my arms. I waded back out into deeper waters, my lips locked to hers. Vaguely behind me I heard the other two girls strip and jump into the water to join their mates.

I had eyes and mind for only Bella. She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck as we kissed, and I held her tight against me, feeling my body respond to her instantly. Our breathing grew ragged, and the electricity between us intensified as our kissing grew more passionate. With a groan, I entered her, and fell backward beneath the water as we began our urgent sensual dance, though she eventually pulled us back above the surface as we climaxed together to cry my name against my ear. I held myself inside her as we caught our breath; I wasn't finished yet. We moved more slowly now, deliberately, letting the tension build back up between us. Bella moaned softly as I kissed her face, her jaw, her throat, and strained against me. I kept my rhythm steady as I continued to kiss her, and her breathing grew rougher. I pulled her lips back to mine, whispering her name, and she began to shudder against me. My thrusts got harder and deeper as she came, and suddenly I was joining her in release; the sensation seemed to go on and on as we continued to move together.

I could hear the sounds of passion around us as we fell apart briefly; the other three couples of our family were similarly engaged in the water nearby. No longer the "odd man out," I enjoyed being the one who often started the orgy going after the hunt of the day. Bella used to be embarrassed by this, as she had always been a very private person, but over time she had grown used to the primal practice as the predatory creatures that we were. She smiled at me now, and traced her fingers lightly over my chest, re-igniting our own passion.

~xXx~xXx~

At school next Monday, I began to pay more attention to Peter. He shared several classes with us, though he usually sat on the other side of the room. His eyes always seemed to be on Bella, and I was surprised that I had been oblivious to his singularly possessive thoughts. Perhaps it was because he wasn't mentally shouting; he was so sure of himself that his thoughts were quiet, calm.

Bella stayed close by me throughout the day, wishing to avoid a confrontation. Peter didn't approach us while we were together. A couple of times he hesitated when Bella stopped between buildings to talk to a classmate, but he eyed me hovering nearby and kept his distance.

After school, Alice caught up with us and we headed toward the parking lot. She stopped suddenly and grabbed Bella's arm. "Your admirer is waiting by our car," she hissed.

"Wait here with Alice, love." I strode forward as Bella pleaded with me again not to hurt him. I would make no promises.

"Hello, Peter," I said quietly as I approached the car. "Can I help you?"

His mind was full of those vile fantasies again, and he obviously resented my intrusion. "Cullen," he grunted. "Where's your sister?"

"She'll be along." I folded my arms over my chest. "_I_ can tell you what you need to know."

"Doubtful," he sneered. "You seem to feel you have the corner on her social life. You're keeping her from having any kind of meaningful relationship. You should back off."

"_Really_?" I was intrigued. This boy clearly had no clue what he was stepping into.

"You heard me, you incestuous prick. I ought to –" his voice faltered as my eyes locked on his. I moved closer. He swallowed convulsively, then continued. "I ought to show you what we do with your kind."

"Bella is adopted, as am I," I replied coldly, staring him down. "We don't have the same birth parents."

"But you look so much alike," he faltered again. "I could have sworn you were blood relatives." I grinned widely at the term, thinking it apt under the circumstances, and he saw the danger then.

"So what do you do with – my kind?" I asked menacingly.

"Uh – never mind. It no longer applies," he answered shakily, backing up. I matched him, step for step, until he was pressed up against a van across from my car.

"Bella is with me," I hissed in his face. "You have no claim on her. See that you remember that, and don't touch her again." I must have really frightened him badly, as he suddenly and obviously lost control of his bladder. I heard Alice giggle in the background. Disgusted, I wheeled and stalked back to my car, and the girls joined me there.

"I don't think he'll be bothering you again," I said simply when Bella looked at me reprovingly. "I didn't hurt anything but his pride," I added defensively. Alice giggled again.

I drove them to Olympia and dropped them off for dress shopping while I ran some errands of my own. I knew Bella usually liked to pick out her own books, but I knew what was on her list to pick up, so I got them for her as I didn't know when she'd have time to do it before we left, and she'd likely appreciate fresh reading material on our long journey. I also ordered my tux for the prom and flowers for my date, redundant as they were next to her loveliness.

Alice called me when they were ready, and I made my way back to them, eager to see how they had fared. Alice was doing a nice job of keeping me out of her head tonight. I had no idea what their dresses looked like, and both were shrouded in a heavy garment bag now. A shield.

I looked speculatively at Bella, and she gazed back at me serenely. She didn't often use her personal shield to hide others' thoughts, but I wondered if she was making an exception in this case. No matter. The prom was not far off now.

~xXx~xXx~

The morning of the prom dawned clear and bright, a rare sunny day in Forks. I was glad I had already picked up my tux and the flowers last night. Alice took Bella to her room to get ready while I drifted downstairs to play the piano for awhile; I had some new compositions brewing that I worked on as I pondered our last few days on Earth.

I was still torn, excited by the prospect of new experiences at the same time that I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to protect Bella from danger. While I knew that she was no longer breakable, I still regarded her as vulnerable, perhaps because she remained so perceptive of others' thoughts and feelings and could not seem to separate herself entirely from the human world. A good example of that was that I had no one to say good-bye to as we left, whereas she had had several tearful farewells already as she'd started to announce our plans to leave the area, and there would probably be more such scenes tonight. Not that she could shed tears, of course, but her angst was unmistakable. I sighed internally at her pain, and how that would twist inside me as well to see her so.

Esme came to join me at the piano and listened as I worked on the new material. I knew she was thinking of how much she would miss these sessions. I had packed a couple of portable keyboards, as well as some smaller musical instruments, but it wouldn't be the same to Esme. She smiled at me hesitantly as I toyed with a section of melody, and I suddenly switched to the strains of her favorite composition, to cheer her. Her face glowed.

I went back to the piece I had been working on, fired by new inspiration. The story was simple; it was about our move and saying good-bye to the world we knew. The first movement was melancholy as the protagonist remembered all the things that she would miss, and wept over them. I drew from all the members of my family, as I knew what they would miss most. Carlisle would miss the extensive library and art collection he'd amassed in over seven hundred years of existence. Esme would miss my music, of course, but would be content wherever we settled as long as her family was together. Emmett would miss his grizzlies, Jasper the Civil War collection he was so proud of. Rosalie would miss the effect she had on others, and the opportunities it afforded her, as she was sure no one would care on the new world. Alice would miss the shopping. Bella would miss… everything. I thought about what it might be that I would miss most, and could think of nothing. My world was complete as long as I had my Bella.

That helped me bridge into the second movement, which was about hope and expectations for the new world we would find at the end of our journey through space. I knew Carlisle was eager for the new opportunities for knowledge, as was I. Most of the rest of us hoped that the new world would not be so alien that we could not adapt to it, find an acceptable food supply, and exist with some degree of happiness there. I was not sure about Bella here, as she kept her thoughts to herself on this point.

The last movement was about novelty, surprise, inspiration, wonder. Esme smiled as I sounded the final chord and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in for a motherly hug. "That's beautiful, Edward. Perfect." I could only agree with a smile as I returned her hug gently. We stood together then, and I went off to get ready for my evening.

~xXx~xXx~

The dance was in the gym, as it had been before. After I turned in our entrance tickets, Bella and I headed straight for the dance floor and spun out amidst the other couples. Bella was absolutely ravishing in a long dark blue gown that she wore off the shoulders with a single strand of pearls at her lovely throat. Her hair was up in softly cascading curls that framed her pale face perfectly. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

I would have been happy to stay on the dance floor all night, but Bella took breaks occasionally to mingle and say good-bye to people. All that was left of school now was finals, and then graduation. We had decided not to have a graduation party this time, out of deference to Bella, who preferred one-on-one encounters as she said her farewells. Alice wondered if that didn't make the whole process _more_ painful for her, but Bella said it made it less overwhelming, more personal. I hovered in the background for each encounter, out of human earshot out of politeness, but of course I could hear everything and my heart twisted for Bella. Again and again, I wished that she could have been more detached in her dealings, but I knew that was not Bella's way.

We finally walked outside so that Bella could clear her head after the last of these encounters. We sat on one of the benches and I drew Bella close; she sighed and rested her head on my shoulder, breathing the night air deeply.

"Have you said good-bye to everyone you wanted to?" I asked gently after a few minutes. She nodded. "Then the rest of the night belongs to us, my love."

We stood together, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer for a kiss. She responded eagerly, and I was almost tempted to sweep her up and carry her into the nearby forest, but I managed to resist – there would be time enough for passion – and led the way back to the lights and music. We spent the rest of the evening dancing, which I suddenly realized I _would_ miss on the new world. With that in mind, we stayed until the final number, locked in an embrace until the final note.

~xXx~xXx~

The next day was a choir day… on weekends that I did not go hunting, Bella had convinced me to lend my voice to the town's church choir. Neither of us was particularly taken with the concept of organized religion; heaven and hell ceased to mean much when you became immortal, though Bella held the firm notion that we both retained our souls after transformation and were somehow answerable for them. I suppose I believed that to some extent, too, though I preferred to keep my views on the subject private and not examine them too closely.

Bella sat in the congregation and I sat with the rest of the choir members in the loft over the main entrance. The organist was a wizened old man with arthritic fingers who could nevertheless hold his own through the standard worship service repertoire. Most of the choir members were senior citizens as well; they looked upon me as the "young one," which provided me no end of mirth considering I outstripped them all by several decades. I did enjoy singing with them, though; I was glad Bella had had me do this.

Today was no exception; I sang a solo selection as Bella gazed at me with an enraptured expression. I watched her as I sang, not really showing off but enjoying that she was enjoying what I was doing as a public performance. We were by needs usually private, not seeking the spotlight so as not to call attention to ourselves. This was hardly the "big time," but I did feel "on display" somewhat.

We walked into town after services, and Bella's face grew somber as we passed the familiar buildings; I could tell the nostalgia was hitting her hard. To be truthful, it was hitting me much the same way, as this was the town where we'd found each other, where our relationship had grown and blossomed. We stopped in front of the old police station, and I knew Bella was thinking of her father.

She leaned into me then, and I drew her into my arms. Her shoulders shook with tearless sobs. I held her close, murmuring gently into her hair. I hated to see in her in such pain.

Little by little she regained control of herself, and finally lifted her head from my chest to gaze into my eyes. "Thank you," she said simply. I gazed back, wondering at her thoughts.

"Are you all right, love?" I asked gently.

She nodded. "I'm done now. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so emotional." Before I could respond, she looked at me with a new intensity. "Are there any landmarks in Chicago you need to say good-bye to?"

Her question surprised me; I had no immediate response for her. My memories of my human years had very nearly faded completely by this point, and I was sure there couldn't be any physical landmarks that had survived from my childhood. In any event, I had not considered it as my home base for quite some time. I finally shook my head.

"Let's go home, then," she said with a sigh. "I can't stand this anymore."

We walked swiftly to the edge of the forest behind the police station, and took off running home without a backward glance.

~xXx~xXx~

Graduation was definitely an anticlimactic experience in light of everything else going on. Alice, Bella and I stood together, and that was a very good thing as it helped me to hold focus on the moment. Bella stared bleakly around her as the valedictorian gave the customary speech, and walked gravely across the stage when it was her turn to claim her diploma, in between Alice and myself. Alice was not much more animated, as she was concentrating on what lay ahead.

After the ceremonies were over, Carlisle and Esme met up with us, and we walked back to the parking lot with them silently. We would be leaving this afternoon in two separate cars, bound for Florida. Everything was already packed; we were just changing clothes and going on a short hunting trip before it would be time to go. Bella seemed better as we left the school grounds and headed home, even smiling a little at Carlisle's jokes. I was heartened by that.

Bella and I hunted together, and then took our pleasure together, in the Olympic ranges before meeting everyone back at the house to leave. I couldn't let go of her now; we walked through the house one last time and then got into the cars. Alice and Jasper were riding with us while Emmett and Rosalie were riding with Carlisle and Esme. I held Bella's hand tightly as I drove along the winding road toward the highway; her face was turned toward the window.

The green of Forks disappeared behind us forever.

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**Sigh... goodbye, Forks...**

**So now they're headed to not-so-sunny Florida and preparing to leave Earth...**

**Reviews get you a peek in what's upcoming!!**


	9. Chapter 9 The Long Journey Home

**So my geek's starting to hang out a bit in this chapter... hope I'm not too technical for folks, I'm purposely trying to keep it toned down for the sake of the story!**

**I added some touches in here about training... originally when I wrote the story, I had them in artificial gravity while on the ship, but after watching _Avatar_ I realized that in a sleeper ship, power would be largely reserved for the sleep units themselves, and not in things like artificial gravity...**

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**Chapter Three: The Long Journey Home**

The training in Florida proved to be quite stimulating and all-encompassing. The eight of us were thankful for once that we did not need sleep, as there was so much to learn in such a short period of time.

Most of the training was spent indoors, either in didactic sessions or in simulation. The evenings and into the wee hours of the morning were spent reading, and discussing what we read. The learning came easy to Carlisle and me, thanks to our prior studies, and we helped the others understand the basic concepts. Bella was a quick student, as were Esme and Alice, but it was quite tedious to work with Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett; I left them to Carlisle after the first evening, as he had more patience with their distractions.

The days started early with group calisthenics and ended late with evening discussion sessions on the type of life we might expect to find 'out there', though of course there were no absolute answers. Even the laws of physics might be different out there, for all we knew.

Moving about in 'zero-gee' (simulated and actual situations of very light to no gravity) was the most fun of the trainings for all of us but particularly for Emmett, given his childlike nature and not insubstantial mass. We started out in underwater tanks to learn basic moves and then in the final week we were all taken out to orbit the Earth in the newest version of the _Skytrain_, affectionately dubbed the 'Vomit Comet' by the flight crew for its effects on many of the trainees.

We didn't have to worry about the nausea that the humans did, and all of us enjoyed the free-floating with very little effort. Emmett had to be particularly careful in launching himself about, as he dented quite a few surfaces in the beginning, to the consternation of the training staff. Luckily he didn't breach a wall or we would have had real trouble on our hands.

Another fun part was the gyroscope, though we all had to be extremely careful not to get carried away and flip around too fast in the harness. Less exciting were the centrifugal and free-fall drills, since we had to share space with the humans for this and deal with their physical reactions to the extreme forces.

The rest of the people in the program seemed to spend a lot of their free time outside, so we rarely saw them outside of the training sessions. I thought that would bother Bella, but she seemed content to spend all of her time with family, as if she were afraid to make any new connections. Of course, we'd have plenty of time to acquaint ourselves with the other passengers once we reached our journey's end, and we could do it then without being under the watchful eyes we all were under now.

After a month of training, we were tested and cleared for space flight. The _Galaxian_ was a sleeper ship that would be traveling to Alpha Centauri A at a speed just below that of light; it would take us roughly six years to get to that star system, and somewhat longer to establish orbit around a habitable planet. Our family would remain awake during this time; there were of course no studies on the effects of suspended animation done on vampires, if in fact it could be done. The humans would sleep.

Carlisle had something different in mind for us, and his preparations had been elaborate and thorough. Luckily, this was a civilian rather than a government operation, and by throwing enough money around Carlisle had been able to avoid close scrutiny. The operational team had been more than impressed by his medical credentials and had given him free rein in setting up the special accommodations he insisted were required for our family.

Our quarters were substantially separate from the rest of the crew, with a separate power supply for the monitoring equipment. The majority of the space available was dedicated to storage. There was one compartment in the center that had a square table ringed by eight chairs; the chairs were paired on each side of the table and could recline out flat at the touch of a button. Each chair had a set-up designed for "monitoring" that tied into a central panel on the table. The central monitor, which could be accessed by mission control, was meant to keep track of heart rate, respiration, certain other body functions, and an elaborate schedule of movement of the chairs to prevent stasis and its inherent problems. Obviously, all the displays were bogus, and we in fact could determine when we wished to be sitting up facing each other or reclining with our respective mates. There was a special storage area in the next compartment that had bags of packed animal blood cells, but those weren't to be used until the trip's end, just before we came back into contact with the humans. During the journey itself, we would not feed (though the monitors would say otherwise). This would make us weak and uncomfortable, but would not kill us; as much as possible we would remain motionless to conserve energy, but we could interact with each other if we wished.

Bella and I had storage cabinets of books by our chairs, as did Carlisle. The others would rely on other means to distract themselves on this long journey.

The launch date was set for a Tuesday in September, Bella's human birthday. She frowned when it was announced, but said only that it was an interesting way to mark the day.

The weekend before launch, we headed to a state park to hunt as a family. Not that it would make much difference a few weeks into the journey, but we would at least be comfortable at the start. We managed to escape the media cameras before we even got off the base and kept away from the public eye all the way to the park. We debated briefly on how we would split up this time; I was loathe to lose sight of Bella even knowing we would join together at the end, but Emmett and Jasper claimed my company and Carlisle joined us while the women took off in another direction. Bella didn't seem to mind this arrangement; she and Alice were holding hands and giggling like schoolgirls as they ran.

As we ran, we talked about the next six years or so… certainly not a long span of time to an immortal, but noticeable especially given how limited we would be. Carlisle had gone for extended periods without feeding in the past, and assured us that we would be fine in the absence of temptation. The humans would be locked away from us during the journey and we would not hear their heartbeats, so there should be no trouble there. He admitted that we would grow weaker, but even at our weakest we would be strong enough to survive if something should happen, say a crash or a hull breach. "Even the vacuum of space cannot kill us."

I thought about that as we prepared to hunt in earnest, and felt reassured that Bella and I would be together and not much more than bored for this stretch of time that I had originally felt would be fraught with danger. Of course, all bets would be off once we made planetfall, but I had time to prepare for that, with time to spare.

I surrendered to the hunt, then, unworried about what was to be.

We met up with our mates in a clearing that evening, and the reunion was made all the sweeter by the realization that this was one of our final nights under this starfield. The skies were absolutely clear and the view was breathtaking. Bella and I chose a place with an unobstructed view of the heavens and made love to each other repeatedly, pausing from time to time to gaze up at the celestial backdrop. I couldn't get enough of her body, and she seemed to feel much the same; our passion remained high throughout the night. Near dawn we leapt up to hunt again without bothering to dress. I always enjoyed watching Bella hunt; to watch her hunt naked was almost unbearably glorious.

She paused at one point to look upwards, entranced. I stood behind her and followed her gaze. The morning star was prominent in the pale heavens, in opposition to the approaching sun. "Lucifer," she breathed, and I recognized the reference.

"I'm hoping we're leaving our demons behind, love," I answered her gently. She was still a minute longer, and then turned to me, nodding, her face serene.

We eventually rejoined the others; Emmett made me wrestle for our clothes and we took some good-natured ribbing. I'm sure Bella would have blushed if she could.

We arrived back on base and stumbled straight into a reception held by the sponsors of the journey for the passengers and crew. Our family stood together, not really mingling except for Carlisle, who handled such situations with ease. I tipped the others off on the reporters in the crowd, and we avoided them when we could. Bella stayed tucked into my side the entire time, her golden eyes flickering around the room nervously. I would have walked outside with her, to get her away from the prying eyes of the media, but I was concerned that we would be followed. Several of the reporters present seemed to be intrigued by us, for the usual reasons.

Eventually we were able to leave as a family unit and escape to the privacy of our quarters. The media circus was just beginning, I knew. I would try to protect Bella as much as I could.

We stayed to ourselves until the following evening, when we were asked to stand for group pictures with a professional photographer. Carlisle asked that there be no reporters present, and the sponsors were able to accommodate us. It was not until the morning of launch that we were inundated by the swarm of publicity. Bella accepted that with good grace, smiling politely as we walked from the barracks to the ship, holding the crook of my arm tightly. Carlisle spoke briefly to one of the reporters, asking that our privacy be respected, and we were left largely alone, though we still had to endure the repeated flashing of cameras.

Finally, we were aboard, and we went to our new quarters to get settled. Carlisle checked the bogus monitoring equipment while Bella and I made one last check to be sure all of our supplies were in place. We sat around the table: Carlisle and Esme were to our right, Rosalie and Emmett to our left, Alice and Jasper directly across. Alice closed her eyes in concentration for a moment before announcing brightly that our launch would go off without a hitch. That lightened our collective mood tremendously; Carlisle chuckled and settled back, taking Esme's hand, and Emmett joked that he was prepared to go out and push if necessary. Bella sat back and closed her eyes as I held her hand, my fingers laced through hers.

The final countdown was started, and we watched mission control on the monitor as the time ticked away. All systems were a "go."

The fuel source to the booster platform was ignited, and burned evenly. Thrust was applied, and we ascended gently. Gravity fought with us briefly, then surrendered, and the downward pressure lifted. The platform rose gracefully with its cumbersome burden and assumed orbit over the Earth. The first stage of our journey was completed, and we gazed at the big blue marble on the screen as Phase Two counted down. The platform detached from the ship, and the _Galaxian_'s own thrusters were ignited. With a final flurry of communication between mission control and ship's command, we left Earth's grasp.

For a long time we stared at the monitors, watching Earth shrink away, until it disappeared into the vastness. Carlisle changed the view to show the path we were headed on. The blackness seemed to stretch into infinity.

Bella lay quietly against my shoulder, her eyes closed, her face impassive. After a bit, I reclined both our chairs back and took her in my arms, as I used to when she slept at night, and we lay together motionless. I would be content to hold her so throughout our journey.

~xXx~xXx~

The days passed, and none of us moved very much. Even Rosalie and Emmett seemed content just to hold each other and gaze into each other's eyes.

I was watching Bella as she lay in my arms, when I saw a faint smile flicker over her lips. "What are you thinking of, love?"

Her voice sounded as if it were coming from a distance. "I'm remembering the night we got… engaged." I couldn't help but kiss her as the memory sprang to my mind as well.

Bella's eyes flew open. "Don't make it too real for me. I was enjoying the _dream_," she chided gently.

"The dream?" I echoed, confused. "How –"

She touched a gentle finger to my lips. "Lie back and close your eyes." What was she up to? "Just do it. Then let the tension out of your body – the best way to do it is to tighten up one section at a time, count to ten, let it go… face… shoulders… left arm and hand… right arm and hand…" Her voice was soft, hypnotic, and I followed her suggestions willingly. I _did_ feel more relaxed as she brought the exercise down my body; I hadn't realized how much tension I'd been holding onto.

"Now think of something that makes you happy, and focus on it." Of course, Bella's smiling face came instantly to me. "Stay on it until your mind is clear of anything else." She waited a couple of minutes. "Now remember a happy time and let the memory play."

The night we spent together after that memorable day in the meadow came to me, and I let it play behind my eyelids, remembering the emotions it had awakened in me at the time, lingering on the details. Everything had seemed brand new…

I thought I heard a soft "I love you" and then a parade of images entered my mind. It took me a moment to realize that Bella had not spoken aloud; instead she had lifted her shield and was sharing her thoughts with me. I watched the vivid images of her memories and saw how she moved tangentially from one to the next – an image she was considering would provoke another memory, and then a theme from that would bring up another…

After several minutes of this, she asked, _Enjoying the dream?_ and I realized what she was doing.

"Mmmm…" I breathed, tightening my arms around her. Her control of the shield faltered and it fell between us again, but I was able to keep going for a time from her example, using her quiet breathing to ground myself. It was a pleasant mental exercise, and I supposed it was a form of dreaming, though it was hard to forget how _aware_ I was.

Time went on. The thirst came on eventually, but it was tolerable. Bella and I distracted ourselves with our reading supply, while Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett played card games. Carlisle and Esme were content to sit motionless, and Alice sat quietly as well, watching her visions.

As the days passed, we became weaker, and it got harder to concentrate. Bella gave up re-reading everything and lay very still, eyes closed, barely breathing. I lay beside her, holding her to me, willing her my strength. Her breaths marked the passing time for me. I wondered if she were dreaming again.

Aside from our growing discomfort, the trip was uneventful. Jasper kept us calm, even when we eventually hit the turbulence of the Alpha Centauri star system. The humans would be awakening soon.

Carlisle pushed and floated up, and flitted over to the compartment where the packed animal blood cells were stored. "Edward, I could use your help getting these thawed and ready for use."

I arose more slowly, with a worried look at Bella. She was so pale, so still, not even breathing now. Carlisle poked his head from the other compartment and smiled encouragingly. _She'll be fine, Edward. She's one of us, remember?_

I joined him in the other compartment and we set to work getting the blood ready. After the bags were gently thawed, the blood was flushed out of them into large, heavy steel steins with sterilized normal saline to reconstitute the packed cells. Then the steel steins were warmed up to 37 degrees centigrade to simulate animal body temperature and placed in thermal liners.

As Carlisle and I brought out the unconventional meal, most of the rest of the family started to stir and sit up. Alice and Bella were the only two who remained supine, unmoving. We passed out the steins and I took Bella's cup to her, bringing her chair to an upright position and supporting her against me. "Bella, my love, drink," I begged. She responded slowly but was finally able to take some blood from the stein, and this strengthened her enough to take it from my hand and continue on her own. I glanced over at Jasper as I picked up my own stein and saw that he had been similarly successful in getting Alice to respond.

The intercom crackled to life as we were finishing the first round. "Dr. Cullen, this is Captain Bates. How is your family?"

Carlisle pushed a toggle on the table. "Well, thank you. How did you fare?"

"So far, so good. The command staff are all awake, we're waking up the passengers now. Do you need anything?"

"Not at present, thank you. Let me know when we're ready to enter orbit; I'd love to join you on the bridge."

"Absolutely. At our present estimate, we should be ready for that in two hours' time."

"Very well. I'll see you then. Cullen out." Carlisle turned to me. "Time for round two?"

~xXx~xXx~

Before long, we were all sated, and set about getting ready to join the crew. Bella quickly stacked her books back neatly in their storage cabinet and stood up. I gathered her to me, putting a hand under her chin to tilt her face up to mine. Her cheeks were faintly flushed now from the recent feeding, and her eyes sparkled as she gazed back at me. I bent my face to hers, whispering "I love you" before our lips met, and she responded eagerly. I looked up to see Rosalie and Emmett entwined on their reclined chairs, and quickly pulled Bella into another compartment for privacy, my need rising acutely. Our lovemaking was urgent, intense after the six-year hiatus. No words needed to pass between us for me to know that Bella felt the same as I about the need to make up for lost time, though time was not in abundance now. We finally broke apart, reluctantly, as Carlisle called softly from the other compartment. "Time to go."

We made our way forward; Carlisle was diverted to the bridge while the rest of us were sent to the main deck with the rest of the passengers. Carlisle had his black bag with him. The Captain had asked him to do cursory exams of the bridge crew to be sure that there had been no damage done during the re-awakening process that could impact performance during the critical time of achieving orbit.

The main deck had a large ceiling-to-floor viewscreen against one wall. I stood against an adjoining wall with my family, somewhat apart from the other humans. After not having smelled any for six years, the collective human blood scent hit me like a battering ram, and I was glad I was not thirsty. It was still uncomfortable, and I could tell from the expressions and thoughts of my family that they felt the same. I looked down at Bella. Her face was impassive but her eyes were tight, and I knew she was not immune to the scent. I took her hand, interlacing our fingers, and she smiled up at me briefly before turning to look at the viewscreen.

The ship had slowed as we approached the planet. It was still coming up fast, filling more and more of the screen with each passing second. I stared at the red-tinged orb thoughtfully, wondering what kind of life, if any, might have evolved there.

After a few minutes, the intercom crackled to life. "Passengers of the _Galaxian_, welcome to Rigil Kentaurus IV. We will be entering planetary orbit soon, and starting several scans and surveys to determine if this planet can support us. While that sounds tedious, it is necessary to ensure that your lives are not risked unnecessarily. We ask for your patience during this time."

There was silence as everyone in the room watched the fast-approaching planet. The buzz of thoughts all centered on concern of how different it appeared from the Earth, and what that could mean.

A crewmember was suddenly at my side. "Are you the Cullen family?"

"Yes," I answered tersely, uncomfortable with the sudden proximity of the unthinking human.

"Dr. Cullen asks that all of you join him on the bridge. Please follow me."

I gestured for Esme to go first, followed by my brothers and sisters, while Bella and I brought up the rear. I watched the viewscreen as long as I could; we were just entering orbit as I left the room. We followed the crewmember forward and up, and entered the bridge, which was quite a bit smaller than the main deck but still spacious. Carlisle smiled as we entered and came forward to take Esme's hand.

"You remember my wife, Captain Bates."

"Yes." The Captain smiled at her pleasantly. "Good day, Mrs. Cullen. I trust you had a comfortable journey?"

"Yes, thank you, Captain, as did the children," she murmured. The Captain gave a start, then scanned his eyes over our family and nodded.

"Good. Your husband was just telling me that you and your – family may be up for a bit of an adventure for us. That you have some previous experience with surveys."

Esme seemed embarrassed. "Yes, perhaps a bit. We know how to take samples and what to look for."

"Good, excellent. We have all the necessary equipment; we're just a bit shorthanded, what with several key people not making it through the re-awakening process…"

"I'm sorry for your loss," Esme said immediately, stricken.

"Thank you. We should've caught the problems sooner, it was a lesson hard learned. At any rate, we thought you might appreciate this opportunity, and it _would_ help us out. No pressure, though, should you care to refuse…" he trailed off, looking embarrassed but hopeful.

Esme turned to Carlisle. "Since you suggested it, you must think this is all right for our family."

"I do." Carlisle's smile widened as he looked at Esme. She smiled back and nodded to Captain Bates. He was ecstatic. And suddenly, so was I – to experience something _new_. After more than two centuries of life, those opportunities were few and far between. Not that I ever grew tired of Bella's love. That would always be new for me.

I looked down at Bella. She looked eager as well, her topaz eyes shining. I squeezed her hand and she beamed at me. So beautiful.

Carlisle took us to a conference room off the bridge, where we would wait to be briefed on the results of the preliminary scans before we would begin surveying. We sat around the table while Carlisle reviewed what would be expected.

We would follow the lead of the regular members of the survey team. We would gather soil, water, and vegetation samples for study, and scout for higher forms of life. Once we gathered what intel we could, we would head back to the ship for de-briefing, and depending on what we found, we would either set up housekeeping or chart a course for the next available planet.

I could hardly wait to get started.

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**They've arrived! wonder what they'll find... ;)**

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	10. Chapter 10 Planetfall

**So this chapter is fairly short, much as I've struggled to lengthen it... but as it just kind of sets up how they establish that This Is The Place, it works...**

**here's how I envision the planet to look... **

**.?pid=30570265&l=4b7482da1b&id=1401401098 **

**as usual, I don't own these characters... I just like to play and be all geeky with them!**

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**Chapter Four: Planetfall**

We landed the shuttle at dusk amidst some rock formations, to keep hidden. The two regular crewmen, John Todd and David Beckman, had us wait until they had checked around the immediate area and determined that it was relatively safe to be there. When we were finally allowed out, we scaled the rocks and perched there, trying to orient ourselves to the new environment.

This was a world of _two_ suns; actually one sun and one bright day star, as this was a binary system. Both were down now, and the thin air was cold. The two humans shivered and fastened up their overcoats. I looked at the ground and realized why the planet had been red on the viewscreen; the sand was reddish brown and likely tinged the sky red. There was not much in the way of vegetation around us; this place looked much more like Bella's Phoenix than Forks. A desert planet.

I badly wanted to run as fast and as far as I could, to explore this new world with no holds barred. It was frustrating to have to move at the humans' pace, especially now that we were no longer under the confines of secrecy that had existed on Earth. Carlisle was planning to wait before he revealed our secret, though, until we were established planetside; he didn't want to scare the humans unnecessarily, where the ship was such a confined space.

He spoke now. "Shall we begin? I think my boys are eager to go exploring to see what life forms may be out there. The rest of us can gather what samples are needed."

John Todd nodded. "Jasper, Emmett, Edward, you're with me. The scans showed that there might be something that-a-way" – he pointed to the north, "whether it be animal or sentient species we're not sure."

I jumped down lightly from my perch, followed closely by Emmett and Jasper. "Watch out, kid!!" yelled John Todd, too late, his hands extended toward me in a useless effort to catch me mid-flight. I grinned up at him.

"The gravity seems lighter here," I commented politely. "Really, we're fine. I think even you could jump from that height safely." Bella jumped down to my side, a pout on her face, and I caught her about the waist as I watched the two humans gingerly scramble down the rocks. Alice jumped into Jasper's arms while Rosalie jumped onto Emmett's broad back. Carlisle and Esme joined hands and stepped off the rock they were standing on, landing lightly beside us.

I looked down at Bella and realized that she was unhappy. "What's wrong, love?" I murmured as I traced her lips. My voice was pitched too low for the humans to hear.

"I want to go with you." She kept her voice low, too. "Please?" she added, her voice pleading.

"Alice wants some girl time with you," I said teasingly. I nodded to my sister, who looked at Bella expectantly. I wasn't willing to risk Bella when I didn't know anything about this place, but I didn't want to say that out loud for fear it would make Bella obstinate. She often dug her heels in when she thought I was forbidding something in order to protect her. Better to play it light.

Bella hesitated, staring at Alice intently. Alice's expression didn't waver. Finally Bella let out a gusty sigh and bowed her head. I gave her a quick hug, wary about showing too much affection around these humans who knew her as my sister, not my mate. She scuffed her feet over to Alice, who beamed.

Beckman started passing out sampling equipment as our explorer party moved out. Bella and Alice were walking off together with their kits but turned back to pay attention to John Todd as he outlined the rules of engagement. If we ran across anything/anyone we were to make sure we couldn't be seen, and observe only. No interference. And we couldn't introduce ourselves until and unless the Captain himself deemed that we were ready to be official. He picked up the pace to a brisk human jog; the three of us loped along behind him easily, chafing to go faster.

After some time, I picked up a scent and stopped with a hiss. Emmett and Jasper caught the scent, too. A large gathering of something warm-blooded was not far ahead. Human perhaps, but odd.

John Todd stopped, confused. "What is it?"

"Something's up ahead," Jasper told him. "We need to slow up and take cover."

"How can you tell?" John Todd asked suspiciously.

Jasper favored him with a stare, raising one eyebrow. "Trust me on this one. There's a lot of them, whatever they are. Smells like your scan was right."

John Todd looked unsettled, but decided to proceed with caution. He had us move slowly and quietly to a standing of large rocks and pulled out a piece of equipment from his backpack, presumably to scan the area. I watched, fascinated, trying to see what all the toggles and buttons might be used for.

"It seems as though the scanner here agrees with you, son. Okay… how's your night vision?"

"Really good," Emmett assured him with a grin.

"Think you can sneak up real quietly to take a peek?" The three of us nodded and dropped into crouches, moving soundlessly ahead, splitting up to approach the gathering ahead at different angles.

I crept closer, silent, keeping myself in shadow. I didn't know how sharp the eyes were of our target, and I wasn't taking any chances. I stopped at a good vantage point, crouched behind a rock, and took a good look.

Except for the strange environment, it looked like a page out of our history books on Prehistoric Man. Several man-creatures were in a ring around an open fire, roasting pieces of meat and eating them straight from the fire. They were dressed in skins and furs, presumably of animals they'd killed before and processed. They looked to be Cro-Magnon. I reached out to see if I could read their minds and was pleased to find I could; they thought in images. I listened for a bit; there was nothing alarming to be found. I saw the different kinds of animals they hunted. I saw how they perceived themselves in their world in relation to the animals, to each other. There was a leader… it was a shadowy image, indistinct, but he wasn't like them. No one had seen him in awhile; they'd been left to themselves.

I signaled; Jasper and Emmett circled around back to me and we touched heads as I told them, low and fast, about the man-creatures. We fell back to where John Todd was vainly trying to make things out with a set of night vision goggles, and I told him what we'd seen. He was impressed.

"Sounds pretty non-threatening as long as we keep a friendly distance," he observed. "Good to know there's no mythical monsters." I bit back a laugh while Emmett chuckled and Jasper smiled faintly.

"Shall we see how our shipmates are doing? I'd like to get out of here before the sun comes up." he started back in the direction we'd come.

"That's it? No more exploring?" Emmett looked disappointed. I still wanted to go running myself.

"No, that's it for now. This group you saw was the only large gathering on the entire planet according to the scans, so I think we got most of our questions answered," he replied. "Don't worry, we'll be back," he added with a grin.

We jogged at human speed back to the landing site to reconnoiter with the rest of the survey team. John Todd and Beckman conferred for several moments off by themselves, though of course I could hear every word they said. They were generally pleased with how everything had gone and planned to give the Captain a recommendation that we colonize here. I passed that on to my family in a low voice.

We climbed back into the shuttle and locked down for the flight back to the ship. Bella looked pensive as she stared out the shuttle window. I wondered if she was still upset with me for not allowing her to come with me.

"Are you all right, love?" I couldn't take her in my arms because of the seat harnesses we were forced to wear, but I could still hold her hand. She looked down at our hands and sighed.

"After all we've been through, I would think that you would have more faith in the fact that I can take care of myself," she said in a low voice.

"And after all this time, you should know that I have this overwhelmingly crazy overprotective streak in me," I answered lightly, trying to make her smile. The corners of her mouth _did_ flicker, but she seemed to be determined to pout.

I squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, my love, I'm sure I'll let you out of the house eventually. Once I'm sure it's safe." She didn't dignify that with an answer and returned her gaze out the window as the shuttle headed for the mother ship.

~xXx~xXx~

We returned to our quarters once back aboard with exception of Carlisle, who was called into the debriefing session with the Captain. Emmett and Jasper told Esme, Rosalie, Alice, and Bella of our scouting trip and the humanoids we had seen. Esme was worried about the fact that the ground was so open to the sky, after centuries of being wary of the sun.

"Well, they're going to find out we're not human eventually," Emmett said with a shrug.

"It will take getting used to the idea, now that our situation is different. We are not mythological creatures here," I said gently, as Esme looked stricken.

"There are several mind sets that need to change," Bella said meaningfully, not looking at me.

"That may well be." I folded my arms across my chest. "Some are worth hanging onto, for caution's sake."

"Did you see – an alternative food supply?" Esme asked.

"Not directly," I answered. "But the – planet natives were wearing animal furs and skins, and were thinking about animals they'd hunted, which leads me to believe there is an alternative available." Esme looked relieved.

Carlisle came in then, looking delighted. "We make planetfall tomorrow, everyone. Our journey is over!" He crossed over to Esme and hugged her. "You can start to work on designing our new home."

"I'd best get started," she smiled back at him. "Come show me what I have to work with." They went into another compartment, hand in hand.

I reached for Bella and pulled her close. "Can you forgive an old tyrant, my love?" I whispered, nuzzling against her cheek. She ran her hand through my hair, ruffling it gently, her lips seeking mine. We kissed, and I swept her up into my arms and dashed to an empty compartment.

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**So... what do you think?**

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	11. Chapter 11 Setting Up Housekeeping

**Something about 'dots' drives ffnet wild, and so the link I was attempting to show in my last author's note didn't come through... so there are now two links on my profile, one for the cover art to this story, the other for a pic of what their new planet looks like in my mind's eye... check them out.**

**These next few chapters are going to come out slowly... when I originally wrote them I tossed them out quickly so that I could run to the meat of the story, figuring I'd get back and flesh them out later. Well, this is 'later'... so I'm trying to fill in some detail now and where I'm back to both jobs at work and life marches on... yeah, so just warning that I'll be slower here...**

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Chapter Five: Setting Up Housekeeping

The _Galaxian_ settled into the valley of rock as if the space had been especially designed for it. In a way it had; the site had been chosen from space and lasers had been used to smooth out the rock base and cliff sides so that the ship would not be damaged during its descent from orbit.

The valley was defined by tall red cliffs on three sides, with a narrow passage through the north side leading to the desert. On the south were high russet sand dunes.

The floor of the valley was fairly wide; many of the colonists planned to erect shelters there while some hardy souls planned to cut into the rock to make their homes. Our family would be doing them one better; there was a ledge three-quarters of the way up one steep cliff face with a natural opening into the rock, a small cave. We planned to shape that and extend it to carve out a mansion inside the cliff rock.

Emmett and Carlisle scaled the cliff easily, stone cutters in hand, with Esme following right behind to direct their efforts. The rest of us stayed back at the ship, as the Captain didn't want everybody out at once in order to avoid mass confusion. We were cannibalizing the ship to use its materials to build our homes; Jasper and I worked on doing that within our quarters while our sisters organized what had been packed into various piles. As each room was cut out, I ran raw materials and boxes up to our new home. We wanted to move quickly, because Carlisle had sensed that it was going to be somewhat cutthroat before long as everyone grabbed what they could to set up housekeeping.

It helped our effort that the humans had to stop to rest and to eat. We kept at it long after everyone else had gone to sleep for the night, and by the dawn of the second morning the rough cutting was done and everything we wanted to take from the ship was moved over. Esme could take her time now on the interior design of the individual rooms, the small details.

At the level of the ledge were the common rooms; the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the library. Beneath them were corridors leading to four individual suites, joined by a common corridor. Each suite had a common room and two smaller rooms so that each member of the family could have privacy, should it be desired.

We set to work fleshing out each of the common rooms under Esme's sure guidance. For her it was a labor of love, to make this new place seem like home. There were many effects brought from Earth to create this special touch, though of course we hadn't been able to pack the furniture. We discovered that the stone cutters could melt and re-shape pieces of rock, and so we designed furniture from many of the rocks left over from carving out the walls.

Esme missed her windows, and her glass wall. She briefly considered the red sand that was so plentiful here, but with the sky red already, she didn't want to put such a cast over the house. We did find the raw materials for paint, and so were able to make the walls lighter, at least. We also found a natural source of lighting, a luminous rock that conducted solar energy; by setting up panels of this rock on the cliff face and connecting them with tracks of the rock along the inner walls of the mansion we could ensure soft light within all of our rooms most of the day and night.

Once the common rooms were done, we helped each other design our own touches into the suites. Bella's room was perhaps the easiest of all; all she wanted was a desk and a chair in it. I made her a bookcase as well, so that she could keep her favorites near her.

Finally, after a week, we were done with everything we wanted to accomplish with our new quarters, though of course Esme would continue to refine things as she saw fit. Carlisle checked in with the Captain and was asked to design a medical facility, to be built on the valley floor. I helped him with that while Emmett and Jasper went scouting for the resident animal supply.

It was still strange to look at the red-tinged sky, so different from Earth. The air was thin but breathable according to the humans, the temperature moderate during the day but freezing during the night. The lighter gravity made even the humans seem more graceful and stronger. Carlisle and I kept ourselves covered from the sun, wearing dark hooded jackets, so as not to alarm the settlers just yet; we had checked to see whether the sun's rays here had the same effect on our skin as on Earth and found that it did, though to somewhat of a lesser degree.

When Emmett and Jasper returned with positive sightings of animal life of several different types, a general cheer went up; the settlers were getting tired of synthetic meals and longed for fresh meat as much as we wanted the blood of living creatures. Fresh water was to be found in springs and wells under the sand, and in most of the indigenous plant life here, much as it would be in any desert.

Hunting parties were set up among the humans, and Carlisle went with one group for blending purposes and to see what might be different here than to what we were accustomed. The humans used guns and ammunition to kill their prey, of course. Carlisle was able to determine that the physiology of animal life was similar to what we were used to, and took samples of the animals' blood to make sure it would be compatible for us. It was.

We waited until the humans were set up with their homes and their food supply before we took our first 'camping trip.' Carlisle thought it would be best if we billed it as an exploration, so we split up by couples in order to cover more territory. Carlisle and Esme headed South, Rosalie and Emmett West, Alice and Jasper East, while Bella and I went North. For the first time in what seemed like ages, I was finally able to break free and run with my mate by my side. The feeling was glorious.

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**So far, so good... things are looking home-y for our crew... how long will the honeymoon last, I wonder?**

**Shout out if there's anything you want to see more of!!**

**~ K**


	12. Chapter 12 The Hunt

**I am very, very grateful that more and more people seem to have noticed my little story and that so many of you are putting it on favourite and story alert... thank you, thank you!! Special thanks and hugs to dawnvochatzer who never fails to give me ego-boo after every installment :)**

**As usual, I don't own these characters, they belong to Stephenie... I just like to play!! **

**And... just to forewarn... this chapter contains a prime example of why this story is rated M... if it's not your thang, you can skip to the last five paragraphs to pick up the story...**

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Chapter Six: The Hunt

I crouched on the low outcropping of rock, my attention on the herd of gazelle-like creatures below me. Bella was some distance from me, poised to spring at the herd from a different direction, to increase our chances of success.

My thirst was acute, and so I did not mind so much that our prey was not as appealing as I would have liked. The wait had been almost too long again for Bella; I'd carried her here in my arms after we'd run the first few miles, to keep her from falling behind too far. She looked very pale, the circles under her eyes dark. I worried that she'd grown too weak to hunt, though she held her pose perfectly. She smiled back at me reassuringly.

We sprang off our perches at the same time. I dropped onto a young buck and made short work of him, then sprang to a second buck, bringing him down quickly. Sparing a look in Bella's direction, I saw her feeding on a large doe, and I felt a certain measure of tension leave my body at the sight of her. She was so beautiful, a faint flush creeping over her cheeks as she gorged herself on the beast beneath her.

I glutted myself, going for a third kill after polishing off the second. The blood seemed sweeter than I recalled it being in similar animals on Earth; I wondered how much of that was due to the length of time it had been since last we hunted.

Finally, feeling sloshy, I straightened up and stretched languidly, then walked over to a large boulder and leaned against it to wait for Bella. I watched her graceful form as she sprang on her last kill and finished it off neatly. So very beautiful, not to mention exquisitely sensual. I smiled to myself, aroused. She straightened and headed over to me fluidly, looking none the worse for wear. There was something about her eyes… what was different?

She stopped in front of me and wrapped her arms around my waist, laying her head on my chest with a happy sigh. I put my hand under her chin and tilted her face up to mine for a kiss, and immediately we both gasped.

"Your eyes…" we breathed in unison. Our gazes locked on each other in wonder.

Two luminous chocolate brown eyes stared back at me. They glowed as if lit up from inside. I had thought I had lost those eyes forever when she went through the transformation; I gazed into their depths, entranced.

It occurred to me that my eyes had changed color as well. Bella knew that my eyes had been green when I was human, but she had never seen them that way. Did she find the change shocking?

Bella reached up hesitantly and stroked my face gently. "I didn't even realize what I was missing," she murmured.

I took her hand and kissed it, smiling. "Is it an improvement?"

She cocked her head, her smile suddenly impish. "Hmmn… I don't know… try to dazzle me."

I closed my eyes, still smiling, and put my head down as I took her face between my hands gently. Then I looked up at her through my lashes, focusing intently on her eyes with a solemn expression on my face, and murmured, "You have no idea how badly I want you right now."

Her eyes became unfocused and her breathing quickened; I must have succeeded. Chuckling, I kissed her gently, and she melted against me, molding herself to my form. The kiss quickly became more urgent, our bodies both responding readily, and I pulled her gently into a small cave cut into the rock, out of the sun. We shed our clothes, still kissing, and I brought us both down to the floor of the cave roughly as my hands began to explore her soft curves, suddenly greedy. She moaned and whispered my name against my shoulder as I took her without further preamble. The arousal we both felt from the hunt was preparation enough, and her body more than ready for me as she pulled me deeper inside her. Our rhythm was slow at first, as we let the passion build. After several minutes I rolled to lie beneath her, my hands gripping at her hips as she crouched over me, still impaled on my length, grinding into me repeatedly; she was tracing the muscles of my chest and belly with paradoxically gentle fingers, her eyes tightly closed in concentration, her breath coming in shallow pants. I could feel the pressure building rapidly within me as I watched her moving lithely above me, felt her tightening around me. She opened her eyes and looked down at me as she stilled for a moment, murmuring her love for me. Groaning, I pulled her down to me as I answered her in kind so that I could kiss her throat, nuzzling along her neck. She moaned again huskily and I rolled over swiftly to pin her beneath me, thrusting deeply again and again in my rising primal need for her.

"Aaaah... Edward!" she cried out as she began to shudder against me. I picked up the rate and intensity, and she kept crying and moaning out my name, straining and clutching at me, clamping rhythmically around me. And then it was I who was calling out her name over and over, as my own release came moments later. She clung to me tightly, both of us spasming as we rode out the wave of passion until it spent itself, and then we lay together breathing raggedly as we came down from the heights of our passion.

As soon as our breathing had slowed, we started moving against each other again, still aroused. I felt glorious, privileged to be holding such a beautiful, loving angel in my arms. I could not get enough of her, and she appeared to feel the same way. We spent the next several hours re-acquainting ourselves with each other's bodies.

The coming dusk finally caught my attention as we lay in each other's arms, and I murmured that it was time to hunt again as I kissed her. She agreed reluctantly. As we were dressing, she tensed suddenly, peering out of the cave, glancing about quickly at the gathering shadows. I also felt uneasy, as though we were being watched. I scanned out, listening for any sentient minds nearby, but came up empty.

We left the cave quickly and ran due west for a time. The feeling of being watched vanished, and I began to feel better as we scaled a huge rock face and I caught the scent of something that smelled similar to mountain lions. Bella shared my grin as we started to track the scent to its source.

In a matter of minutes we found our prey: two large feline-like creatures, males, stalking some large rodents. We brought them down together, catching them in mid-strike. Again, the taste seemed better, sweeter, than it ever had on Earth.

Bella finished draining her kill and stood up gracefully. I stood as well and went to her side, taking her hand and lacing our fingers together. "Are you ready to go home, love?" She nodded. Ordinarily I would have been content to pick up where we left off in our love-making, under the stars, but the earlier sensation of being watched had set me on edge, and I wanted Bella back in the protection only our family could provide.

At home, we compared notes with the rest of the family. Emmett had found the resident equivalent of a grizzly bear, and was quite pleased. Everyone's eyes had returned to their original color from their time as humans. It took some getting used to, but we all agreed that if this was the only difference we could expect from living on this new planet, it was an acceptable price to pay, and it made us look more human. Well, except for the fact that our eyes glowed in the dark now, just as our skin sparkled in the sunlight.

Bella asked if anyone else had had the sensation of being watched, and we were surprised to find that the answer was unanimously affirmative. No one had caught a glimpse of who or what could be spying on us, though. We decided that for hunting trips in the future, we should all stay together, at least until we knew what the cause of our mutual feeling was. There were just too many unknowns on this new world for us to feel at all confident of our continued immortal status, if indeed we even still were.

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**Oooo... a mystery! well, it *is* a new world, time for some intrigue!**

**Please let me know what you thought! I'm curious to see what people think of the eyes...**


	13. Chapter 13 Sanctuary

**So happy to see that my story is continuing to gain readers and support! would love to hear from more of you on how you think the story is going so far!**

**The background and set-up are done! and now we get into the meat of the story... hope you enjoy this chapter!!**

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**Chapter Seven: Sanctuary**

Life in the settlement began to develop into that of a township. Captain Bates became our first mayor, and called our first town meeting to draft a charter. Carlisle served on the town board, as well as being the town's only doctor. With my three graduate medical degrees, I became his intern in the new medical facility that had been built. Bella served as a medical assistant/nurse.

The rest of our family worked with the settlers to set up the manufacture of needed items out of raw materials. Cloth could be made out of animal hair and skin and also from some of the scrubby vegetation that could be found readily at the mouth of the valley. Raw metals were plentiful; Jasper became a blacksmith and Alice worked alongside him. Emmett did carpentry and construction work with Esme drafting blueprints; Rosalie designed and built various machines to make the colonists' lives easier.

The humans worked alongside us without reservation, and Carlisle grew more and more hesitant to upset the fine balance that seemed to work so well. We had originally planned to reveal our true nature once the colony was set up and running smoothly, but we had also expected the humans to be more wary of us. Emmett joked that Bella's influence had rubbed off on us all and we were just all too _human_. The best answer I could posit, as I monitored the thoughts of the settlement, was that the humans were more focused on the threats of living on an alien planet, and not on what lived among them. Carlisle agreed that that theory made sense.

We took our next 'camping trip' three weeks after the first one, and stayed together this time. Emmett took us to where he had found the bears, which was a few miles north of where we had seen the grouping of humanoids we had seen during our survey venture. We had determined that the reason that animals' blood seemed to taste so much better here had to do with the fact that the air and soil was so much cleaner here than on Earth, hence the animals were not taking any pollutants into their bodies. Why our eye color had changed was still a mystery, but likely had something to do with a factor present in the animals' blood. While we were curious to know what color our eyes would have turned were we to feed on the humanoids, we didn't care to experiment.

Bella and I were just rising from our second kill when a sudden movement caught our attention. Something had just darted behind a rock several yards away. Bella started toward it; I moved to put myself in the lead, taking her arm and pulling her behind the shield of my body as I advanced on the rock.

_Come no closer._

I stopped in surprise at the terse, clear voice. "What is it?" hissed Bella.

"You didn't hear it?" I whispered.

"No."

"Show yourself," I said to the rock, in a tone normal for conversation. "We mean no harm."

_Grant me sanctuary and I will show myself._

"Sanctuary? Why?" Whoever it was sounded terrified. "Is there danger here?" I looked around, puzzled, and Bella was immediately on the alert behind me.

_For you, no. I flee from my destiny._

"I'm sorry. I don't understand." I frowned. "How can we help you?"

"Edward," whispered Bella, with an edge to her voice, "who are you talking to?"

"I don't know yet, love," I whispered back. "Whoever it is wants our protection, though, which can't be a good sign."

_Please. Help me._

"Show yourself, and we can talk about it. I can't make blanket promises when I don't know what I'm dealing with." I started to back up, pushing Bella behind me. I couldn't read the mind that was behind the rock; the messages I was getting were being purposely _sent_, and I was becoming uneasy that I couldn't know what threat that might pose.

_Very well. I suppose I'll have to trust you_.

A small, delicate female moved slowly, cautiously from behind the rock and presented herself to us. Her eyes were her dominant feature, emerald green and luminous, seeming large in her pixie-like face. Her skin was very, very pale. Delicately pointed ears poked through her long, pale blonde hair. She stared at us, her body trembling slightly, her eyes pleading.

_Please take me back with you._

"What are you running from?"

_A beast. His name is Pantheon._

"Can he track you?"

_He can find me wherever I am. But perhaps if you give you sanctuary he will let me be. You seem to be very strong._

_Why is he after you?_ I tried sending this thought to her, and was gratified when she acknowledged that she could hear me. Suddenly I didn't want Bella to have to hear this discussion.

_He is… my destiny. He wishes to mate with me, to propagate our species. We are the last of our kind._

_And you don't want this to happen?_ I was confused as to why she would want her kind to die out. She looked too delicate to be a threat.

_No. It would be very, very bad._

Bella realized that I was having an exchange with this being and gripped my arm tightly, hissing, "Edward..."

"Hush, love, I've got this," I whispered, wrapping my arm around her torso to keep her in place behind me.

"Who is she?" she insisted.

_My name is Liri. She can't hear me, can she? I have been sending to both of you. I can't hear her, though._

_No._ I smiled in spite of myself. _Her mind is shielded._

Liri looked surprised. _A shield. How novel! Can she use it?_

I nodded, raising one eyebrow at her as I worked to bring the subject back to the matter at hand. _But I don't understand why you don't want to keep your species going. Is there a danger?_

She looked at me, considering. Then she curled her lips back in a wide grin to us, displaying rows of sharp, pointed teeth. _Beyond the fact that we are ruthless, bloodthirsty predators?_

_As are our own species._ I indicated Bella and myself briefly, baring my own teeth to her in a sympathetic grin._ I take it that the danger is very great to the resident population. You have a defined lifespan, then?_

_Yes. A few hundred years. That's an odd question._

_We don't tend to die. Unless we're killed deliberately._ I didn't add that I wasn't so sure of that fact on _this_ world.

Her eyebrows shot up, and then she frowned. _All the more reason…_ her thought trailed off.

I sighed. I needed Carlisle. "I grant you provisional sanctuary," I told Liri, speaking aloud for Bella's benefit. "But I cannot make this decision without consulting others. You need to speak to... our community leaders, before full immunity can be conferred."

_Thank you._ She seemed grateful even for a partial promise of safety.

I drew Bella carefully from behind me, keeping her tucked closely by my side. "Bella, meet Liri. She wants to join our settlement. Liri, this is Bella." I didn't think it a good idea to mention specifically what Bella's relationship to me was, yet. Bella nodded politely to Liri, though she held herself tensely. The small stranger nodded back, scrutinizing her intently.

_I'm sorry, I interrupted your hunt. Do you wish to continue?_

_We're fine for the time being. Come back to our campsite and meet the rest of my family._ "This way," I said aloud, and started back to where our family was staying during this hunt. Liri followed gracefully.

Fortuitously enough, both Esme and Carlisle were there, sitting on the ground against a large boulder and talking, when we arrived. Carlisle was instantly intrigued when he spotted Liri with us, and jumped up lithely to greet us.

"Carlisle, this is Liri. She has asked for sanctuary from her mate. I granted it provisionally based on what she was saying to us but told her she needed to talk with you and Captain Bates."

_I see._ "Hello, Liri. Are you native to this planet?" Carlisle smiled politely and spread his hands, palms up, in front of him, to show that they were empty. He had learned this gesture centuries ago, I knew, showing the other party that he was unarmed, not a threat.

_Yes. Where are you from?_

Carlisle looked as shocked as I had been to hear her in his mind. Well, perhaps more shocked, since I was used to hearing voices. He looked at me quickly as I nodded, then back to Liri.

"We are from a place we call Earth. It's in a star system about five light-years from here," Carlisle answered. He went back to Esme and sat down beside her, gesturing for Liri to do the same. "Come, tell us about yourself. Edward said you're in some kind of danger?"

Liri joined him on the ground, sitting cross-legged. I sat a small distance away, leaning against a boulder, and Bella sat with me, tucking herself into my side. She looked faintly annoyed, and I knew it was because she felt left out of the conversation. I gathered her in my arms, pressing my cheek to her hair, and started repeating Liri's part of the conversation in a low voice meant only for her ears.

_I am the last female of my kind, the Beta, and Pantheon is the last male, the Alpha. Our life cycle is nearly complete; he is pursuing me in order to complete the cycle and leave our eggs to hatch for the next generation. I have – developed compassion towards our habitual prey and do not wish to be the cause of further bloodshed._ Her small face turned hard. _It stops now, with me._

"Your habitual prey is – ?"

_Humankind. Pantheon farms them, and even now is preparing a group of them to receive our eggs._ I shuddered as I caught her meaning, and couldn't repeat it to Bella. I covered myself by pulling her even closer to me and kissing her; she didn't seem to object and kissed me back as Liri went on. _We lay one clutch of eggs near the end of our life cycle, in the flesh of the humankind. The humankind host the eggs until they hatch, and then are food for the young. I stopped feeding on humankind a century ago, but Pantheon persists._ I took up the translation again for Bella. _He is unlikely to go after the humans that you live with, though. Too much trouble, when he has his own private stock._ She made a disgusted face.

Esme's face mirrored Liri's. Carlisle took her hand. "Do you want to take Bella for a walk?" Esme glanced over at Bella, who shook her head, her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"No, we're fine. I'd rather know what's out there." Esme smiled bravely at Carlisle. "It lends perspective to know we're not the only monsters here, nor even the worst."

"What is your prey these days?" Carlisle asked.

_Rodents, mostly. They're small but they're plentiful. You all seem to enjoy the predators, but I can't catch those any more._ She looked rueful.

"Would you be comfortable living alongside humans without preying on them?"

_Comfortable? No. Can I do it? Yes. Are all of you really all that comfortable?_

"Some of us more than others. We've all had a good amount of practice. Have you?"

_A fair amount. I'm able to keep sufficiently – distracted._

"You are welcome to stay with us, then," Carlisle said gravely. "I suppose it is time to tell everyone about us."

I winced and nodded. I hoped the humans trusted us enough by now to know we meant them no harm. But of course we were dangerous to them.

I stroked Bella's hair. "Are you ready to go hunting again, my love?" I was anxious to know what she was thinking. She nodded against my chest.

_May I join you?_ Liri seemed intrigued by the two of us. I wondered why.

"No," I answered carefully. "Bella and I would like some privacy. You should stay and meet the rest of the family." I could see Carlisle nodding behind Liri.

_Very well._ Liri bowed her head and turned back to Carlisle and Esme. I nodded goodbye quickly to them and stood, pulling Bella up with me; we left the campsite swiftly, without a backward glance.

When we had run for an hour, we stopped to talk. "How far away do you think she can hear us?" murmured Bella, looking around anxiously.

"I don't know, but I hope not this far," I said, aiming for a light tone. I failed. "What are you thinking?"

"She's definitely the one who was watching us before, I recognized the touch to my shield. I'm wondering about the tie between her and this Pantheon she mentioned. Is she truly alone now, as she says, or are they working as a team?" Her brow furrowed.

Trust Bella to look between the lines. She was so perceptive; I was always grateful for the way she saw things, her ability to look beyond what was being said. "That's definitely worth considering, love. I'm not sure I can trust her; it makes it harder that I can't read her unless she's sending." I felt a frustration with that, similar to but not as intense as the one I dealt with on a daily basis at not being able to read Bella's thoughts. "At least we're not going back to the settlement right away; it'll give us more time to get to know her."

Bella nodded slowly. "I wish we didn't have to expose ourselves to protect her."

"Our hand does seem forced," I admitted, then shrugged. "Though I think humans today are much more accepting of differences than say, oh, a century ago. Our shipmates don't seem to have any qualms so far, even though they've noticed things about us. Either they'll continue to accept us, or they'll ask us to leave."

"My home is wherever you are," Bella murmured as she reached up to touch my cheek. I put my hand over hers and bent to kiss her. We embraced for a moment, then dropped into hunting crouches as the wind changed, bringing the scent of prey nearby.

We were able to surprise two great cats that were staking out a burrow in the ground, and made short work of them. The animals that lived in the burrow came out as we were finishing, and we sampled them as well, finding they were too small and too bland in flavor to be satisfying.

Feeling full, happy, and aroused, I pulled Bella to me, and we made love to each other in the shade of some nearby rocks. We were in no hurry, reveling in the beauty of the world around us and the feel of each other; each climax served to meld our primal natures more and more to the nature of our surroundings. The shadows lengthened into twilight by the time we arose to head back to the campsite to be with the rest of our family. I kept one hand in Bella's as we ran.

The rest of the family was there when we arrived. Liri was in conversation with Jasper and Alice; she was asking about their fighting experience and I frowned, wondering what had brought _that_ subject up. Emmett and Rosalie were sitting wrapped around each other, staring into each other's eyes, while Carlisle and Esme talked quietly together a short distance away.

_I'm glad you're back. Pantheon is in the area._ Liri's eyes were troubled as she turned to us. _He's stopped for the night, but I'm sure we'll see him tomorrow._

_He sleeps, then?_ I asked, curious.

_Sleep is not the word I would use. He becomes dormant with the cold,_ she answered. _He remains aware, but he cannot move until the sun warms us again._

Bella was aware that we were conversing without including her again and tugged my arm. I smiled down at her. "Sorry, love. Liri says Pantheon is in the area. We'll likely see him tomorrow."

"Better here than in the settlement," Bella replied drily. She looked over at Alice with a question in her eyes; Alice shook her head and shrugged. I knew that Bella had just asked Alice wordlessly if she had seen anything, any future encounter. We didn't particularly want to let Liri know that Alice had that ability, at least not yet.

"Do you need to sleep?" I asked Liri politely. She looked – drawn, but I couldn't tell if it was from a physical tiredness, the mental strain of communicating with so many new minds, or something else.

_No. And I do not enter a dormant state, either. We could run…_ she looked concerned as her eyes swept the small campsite.

_What would be the point?_ I shrugged. _It is our nature to face a foe rather than turn tail and run. And we don't want him to go to the settlement._ "Good," I said aloud. "Then we would like to hear more about you."

_What would you like to know?_

"How old are you?" I picked something safe to start with. The rest of the family gathered in a loose circle.

_I don't know exactly, but roughly about two hundred and fifty years._ I translated quietly for Bella's sake.

"Is Pantheon the same age?"

_Yes. We came from the same clutch._

"How many eggs are usually in a clutch?" asked Carlisle, fascinated by the differences in our species.

_Between ninety to one hundred eggs are laid, each in the flesh of one humankind. Not all of them hatch. After that, it is survival of the fittest. Only a few of the hatchlings make it to adulthood._

"Who preys on you?" Jasper asked.

_As hatchlings, any predator could take us, we are so defenseless. Once we are grown, only our own kind would dare – we fight over the food supply, over territory. If we were to ever get off-world, perhaps there would be something or somebody to hunt us, but there is nothing to stop us here._ I shuddered internally before repeating that to Bella.

Bella asked the next question of Liri. "How can you be killed?"

Liri looked at her sharply. "I mean, if we're to stop Pantheon, we may need to kill him, right?" Bella continued. Carlisle looked pained, but then nodded beside her. Liri nodded in turn.

_We die naturally after the eggs are fertilized and placed in the humankind. To kill us before our time is difficult, but possible. The head must be separated from the body and burned, and the heart ripped out and thrown in the flame as well. I warn you that we regenerate quickly, so your actions must be swift to be successful._

Bella's eyes were wide when I finished translating all of that, and hers weren't the only ones. "You regenerate?"

_Yes._ Liri blinked. _And yourselves?_

"We're not going to answer that for now, if you don't mind," Carlisle said swiftly but politely. "Not until after Pantheon is dealt with. We don't want to give you any information he might be able to force out of you."

_A wise decision, of course._ Liri's face became impassive; she looked as though she regretted giving out so much information about her own kind.

"If you don't lay your eggs, how much longer will you live?" Bella asked softly.

_It doesn't matter. I will die either way; I could perhaps gain a few days at most by not having to go through the mating and egg-laying process. But already my body is failing me. I can't hunt as well as I used to, and I wouldn't last long in a fight._ Liri looked rueful again.

"Is Pantheon weakened as well?" asked Jasper, always the strategist.

_No. He will stay vital and strong until the mating and egg-laying are complete. Then he will succumb to the cold. If he does not mate, he will live on until he is killed._

"That doesn't seem fair," Bella muttered.

_It is the nature of things on this world. If the Beta does not fulfill her – destiny, the Alpha has the ability to create our kind by other means._

I looked at her sharply, then raised an eyebrow. "Do tell." My voice was harsh.

Liri cast her eyes down and didn't answer.

"Let me guess," I said more kindly. "He bites a – humankind and injects a poison into its system, rewriting its genetic code and turning it into one of you. He must have to bite two of them, one of each gender…"

Her head came up then. _No, but you're close. Just one, a female. After she had been changed, he would mate with her._

"Very efficient." I regarded her thoughtfully. "But you can't do that, if we kill him?"

_No. I am not – poisonous._

"Well, it seems our path is pretty clear, then," Jasper spoke up. Carlisle looked torn; on the one hand he was fascinated by this new species and wanted to learn more, and on the other hand he knew that we needed to intervene for the sake of the settlement.

"I assume, being the resourceful creature he sounds to be, that he has protected himself from attack for the night, even though he is incapacitated?" I asked Liri.

_Yes, unfortunately,_ she agreed.

"Well, then, we'll need to wait for morning at least. Do we have a ready means of starting a fire?" I asked. Carlisle patted his pockets and came up with a lighter. Jasper had one as well.

I turned back to Liri to ask another question. She suddenly looked uncomfortable, and her eyes became unfocused, as if she was seeing something far away.

"What is it?" I asked, though I was sure I already knew.

Liri stayed as she was for several beats longer. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. _I believe I mentioned that he remains aware. He's found me and he's monitoring us. He can read your minds._

Swiftly, I turned to Bella, saying tersely, "Shield!" She understood immediately and frowned, letting out a quick gust of breath in sudden effort, then nodded. I looked to Liri. "Can he read us now?"

Liri cocked her head, looking from Bella to me and back again. Her face took on a look of growing astonishment. _What did you do? He can't hear you now!_

"Is she inside the shield, or outside?" I whispered, low.

"Outside." Bella mouthed it, making sure that Liri couldn't see her.

"How far away can he hear minds?" I asked Liri. Everyone was standing now, poised to run.

_No more than twenty miles._ I nodded, then swept her up carefully and placed her on Jasper's back. I took Bella carefully into my arms so that she could concentrate on keeping the shield up, and we all took off running.

We stopped after about an hour's run to the east in an area where vegetation actually grew with some abundance, though it was low and scrubby, nothing like the majestic forests of Earth. Jasper set Liri down a few paces from the rest of us so that she would again be unshielded.

"Can he hear you now?" I asked her quietly. She stood quietly for a bit, then shook her head. Bella relaxed in my arms as she let the shield drop, and I held her tightly to me, smiling down at her. "Thank you, love. You were amazing, as usual." She snorted as I set her on her feet.

Liri looked at her intently. _She can do all that, but she still can't hear me when I send. Frustrating._

_Isn't it, though?_ I answered her, smiling. _It's a defensive skill on her part, though, and has certainly come in handy._ I would have said more, but Liri didn't know that I could read minds, and I wasn't ready to clue her in to that yet.

"We'll stay here to plan, then, and go back to our campsite at dawn," said Carlisle. He would have preferred not to run away in the first place, but of course having every thought monitored by the enemy made strategizing impossible.

"I can keep us shielded for a few hours," Bella said slowly, "but I wonder if it might not make more sense to not use the shield until Liri lets us know it's necessary. It might draw him to us faster if he thinks we're unaware, that we're thinking of other things. That we're – distracted."

The rest of us pondered that idea. It couldn't be too obvious that we were trying to keep strategy out of our heads. Rosalie and Emmett thought of a distraction for themselves right away, of course, and I grimaced as I caught the predictable drift of their thoughts. Well, they'd certainly be absorbed. Jasper was thinking of wrestling with me, but I had to shake my head at that as it was too close to what we were trying to avoid thinking of, and Pantheon might learn something of the way we moved by watching us practice. He finally settled on digging into the ground to see what he could find for his blacksmithing. Carlisle would read the book he'd brought, Esme would work on her blueprints for a public library, Alice would translate songs she knew into different languages. Bella… well, it didn't matter what Bella did, Pantheon wouldn't be able to hear her anyway.

I knew what I _wanted_ to be doing tomorrow while waiting for Pantheon to find us at our campsite, but I knew that wasn't a good choice because Bella would need to be able to concentrate. It was easier for the others who were used to blocking me from their thoughts, whereas I was only used to shutting out the voices of others' thoughts from my own mind. My problem, of course, was that I tended to over-think everything, and it just would not do to have Pantheon pick up on that. After some deliberation, I finally decided I would ask Bella to distract me and Liri in conversation; she was good at that.

"That sounds like a plan," I told her, smiling. Bella beamed back at me and looked questioningly at Alice again. Alice shrugged, looking frustrated, then her face smoothed out as she caught Liri looking at her. She looked back at Liri calmly.

"How do _you_ stay – sufficiently distracted?" she asked. "That's always such a problem for me." As if that was why she'd been shrugging.

Liri smiled. _I don't know, it depends on the situation. I've never tried to fool Pantheon before. But I've got a good imagination and I love to create stories. I was thinking that perhaps I would do that as my distraction – and at the same time subtly remind Pantheon of the joy we used to find together when we used to be of one mind._

"We'd love to listen," I told Liri, smiling at her encouragingly. And then I turned back to my beloved and lost myself in her eyes. My sanctuary, my refuge no matter where we might find ourselves.

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**Well, well, well (deep subject, haha)... looks like we've definitely got a challenge here for the Cullens... and the resident baddie sounds worse a threat than they could ever be!! How do you think this is going to play out?**

**Reviews get you peeks into dark minds...**


	14. Chapter 14 The Predator Becomes Prey

**Readership continues to grow, which is just so gratifying... my heartfelt thanks to those who have added me to story alerts and fave stories. Would love to hear from more of you! The reviews I have gotten have been insightful and have helped me direct some elements in my editing, which I appreciate :)**

**You might need to grab onto something as you read this chapter and hold on tight, it's a bumpy ride...!**

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**Chapter Eight: The Predator Becomes Prey**

In the grey light of dawn, we ran back to our original campsite. Bella ran with me this time, not needing to concentrate on maintaining the shield yet. Liri was on my back, so light I barely felt her.

We stopped to hunt briefly along the way, and I gave my first kill, a gazelle-like buck, to Liri before pouncing quickly on a second buck. She accepted eagerly and bit into its neck gracefully, draining it in minutes. Her demeanor improved quickly and dramatically; she must have been starving, trying to survive on those rodents that she could catch.

Once back at the campsite we scattered to our separate pursuits. Emmett and Rosalie took a tent with them to pitch at a distance for privacy; I made them go a few miles off so I wouldn't have to listen to them once they got going at their distraction in earnest. Emmett laughed at me, mock rough-housing with me before he left.

Carlisle lounged comfortably with his book, Esme beside him with her drafting supplies. Jasper went off a short distance with a small shovel to see what lay below the level of the ground here, while Alice stayed with Bella and me, her face fixed in gentle concentration. I tucked Alice against one side of me and Bella on the other as we leaned against a giant rock and grinned at Liri. "Tell us a story."

Liri obliged us, telling us about adventures she and Pantheon had had when they were younger, embellished for our benefit with a fair bit of exaggeration but absorbing nevertheless. She certainly had a flair for the dramatic. It was interesting to see how she described Pantheon as a shining hero, not the dark monster he seemed to us.

The time passed peacefully for awhile as the sun climbed higher in the sky. Despite the distance, I could hear Emmett and Rosalie on the edge of my awareness as they climbed to a new level in passion with each other, and for a few moments my own loins stirred in reaction to it as I briefly considered drawing Bella closer to me…

And in the next moment, horror struck as Alice went rigid beside me. I saw it, in Alice's mind, too late to act upon it. Rosalie's body glowing bright red as she shrieked in pain and terror, then the grating sound of fracture as she broke into thousands of tiny, fiery pieces. The pieces flew outwards in a fierce explosion as Emmett began to glow red-hot. He let out one long, terrible scream before joining Rosalie in oblivion…

I was up and running, already knowing I was too late, a sobbing breath wrenched from my throat. Carlisle looked up, shocked at the look on my face, and took off after me. The others followed as the sounds of double explosions rent the air, mingled with screams suddenly cut short.

The scene of Emmett and Rosalie's last moments was already in devastation when I arrived. Nothing remained of the tent; flaming ash was everywhere. I could not wrap my mind around the fact that they were gone, totally obliterated. The grief for my favorite brother was as a stabbing pain in my chest. Of course there was also a measure of grief for my sister, but I felt Emmett's loss more keenly. To think I had sent them away… I fell to my knees and froze in place there, stricken. How could I have been so selfish?

As though through a fog, I felt Bella's hand on my shoulder. I turned and clung to her as to a lifeline, pulling her to me, gripping her waist and closing my eyes against the pain as I tucked my head into her side. She stroked my hair gently as my shoulders shook with tearless sobs.

Carlisle surveyed the scene and turned to Liri. "What happened?" he asked tonelessly, awash in his own grief. In his mind she looked agitated, sorrowful, – guilty?

_Pantheon was listening to us, and became attracted to – what they were doing. The intensity of it. He – he made me pay attention to it, told me that it should be… us. Then he sent a signal to overload, to destroy…_ she trailed off.

"How?" All of Carlisle's anguish was packed into that one word.

Liri looked away from him, toward Bella who was still trying to comfort me. _Through me. He sends only to Beta. I didn't understand what he was doing until it was too late. I couldn't stop it._

I turned then, we all did, to look at her with shock and horror. Bella stiffened, her hands dropping to her sides, as she quickly caught on that Liri bore responsibility for what had happened here.

Suddenly there was a rough voice in all of our minds, as Liri's eyes widened in fear and she took on the look of a trapped animal. _Do you offer her sanctuary _now_, after what she has done?_

And then we saw him, as he approached swiftly from the south. I heard Bella gasp as she threw up her shield around us.

Pantheon looked vastly different from his mate. Whereas Liri was small and delicate, he was quite tall and imposing, massive muscles rippling, even from a distance. He was humanoid but with distinct lizard-like features: his slitted green eyes, his scaly grey skin, his forked tongue flitting in and out of his mouth. His hair was dark and shaggy, tucked behind prominent pointed ears, straggling over his shoulders to the middle of his back. He wore only a pair of ragged leather breeches, his large feet were bare.

We fell into defensive formation as he approached us; Carlisle in front, Jasper and me in wing position, with Esme, Alice and Bella behind us and Liri behind them. Pantheon stopped a few yards in front of us, his eyes on Liri.

I automatically assessed his size and stance. He was half again as tall as Emmett... had been, and easily twice as wide. His head was in constant motion as he took in information from the air around him. I could not get a clear read of his mind, only flickering images, which was more than I had been able to get from Liri other than her sending of formed thoughts. He balanced forward easily in a loose crouch, his weight on the balls of his feet with his heels slightly up off the ground.

I sensed that he was taken aback by our different eye colors; his irises were blood red and luminous, presumably from his diet of the blood of humankind, and the flickering images in his mind showed that humankind's eyes were usually a pale, dull blue. He seemed quite intrigued by the fact that my eyes were the same as Liri's and kept looking between us, his head cocked to the side.

He was silent for several long minutes after his assessment of us apparently finished, his face building in frustration as he realized he could not send to us through Bella's shield. He looked about with suspicious eyes, and his gaze settled on Bella for several more moments; I could tell from his expression that he understood that she was blocking him somehow. Finally, he turned to Carlisle and with great effort, he spoke aloud in a harsh, grating voice. "Surrender her to me now before anyone else gets hurt. She is a danger to you as long as she remains with you."

"Funny how that happened only after _you_ entered the picture," Jasper snarled.

Pantheon fixed his stare on Jasper, eyes flashing, and Carlisle interrupted quickly, "Pantheon, Liri came to us for protection. She is weak, dying. Nothing we have seen points to her not needing or being unworthy of our help."

"Ah, but you cannot save her. No matter what you do, she dies. So what is the point?" Pantheon was contemptuous.

Carlisle remained calm, refusing to be provoked. "The point is to honor her wishes for her final days, to give her some peace. If you loved her you would want that for her."

Pantheon's lips curled back over his rows of jagged, razor-sharp teeth. "What does love have to do with it? We follow dictates. There is no other way. She is not of your kind and is none of your business. Return to me that which is rightfully mine."

"She is not property. She came to us. That made it our business. We would not have interfered otherwise – it is not our way."

"Walk away." Pantheon took a step closer, and the menace in his expression was plain. "You have no idea what you are getting involved with if you continue on this path. Already you have lost much. Walk away now and I will spare the rest of you and those who came with you."

So he knew of the settlement. This was bad. My eyes flickered to Carlisle's.

"I'm sorry." Carlisle was firm. "I am happy to talk with you to work something out, but I will not tolerate threats. Liri is with us for now and will remain in our protection for the foreseeable future."

"That – is unfortunate." Pantheon glowered at Liri and then stalked away. After a moment he broke into a loping run.

Carlisle watched him for a moment, gauging speed and direction. _We need to get back to the settlement quickly._

Swiftly, I turned back to the main campsite to pack up, and the others followed suit. Before long we were running for the settlement at top speed, Liri perched on Jasper's back, Bella in my arms as she concentrated to maintain the shield. My own thoughts were on Emmett and Rosalie; there was not even time to grieve for them properly.

We overtook and passed Pantheon on a parallel path and kept going. When we reached the settlement, Jasper and I took Liri and Bella straight to our house in the cliff face, settling them both in the suite that Bella and I shared, while Carlisle, Esme, and Alice went to Captain Bates' office to raise the alarm.

Bella sat on a couch, her eyes shut in deep concentration as she expanded her shield to encompass the entire settlement. Jasper left to join Carlisle in defending the little township, while I stayed to monitor the situation and give Bella input on managing the shield. Liri perched quietly in a chair watching us, her expression grave. She was realizing now, I knew, that I could hear others' thoughts.

Carlisle succeeded in mobilizing available forces before Pantheon's arrival without needing to reveal what we were and without having to explain what Liri was, since no one had seen her. He described her as a humanoid needing our help without going into detail about what she was trying to avoid; his explanation about Pantheon was necessarily brief but he billed him as a common threat, drawing on the colonists' expectation of alien races. I grimaced a bit at that. Granted, Pantheon was a monster in every sense of the word, but he was still a sentient being, and I felt a pang at the thought that his race and our own were not so very different. I knew that Carlisle felt the same way, which made the lie all the more masterful and grim.

~xXx~xXx~

When Pantheon arrived at the mouth of the valley, he was met by Carlisle, Jasper, and a contingent of settlers, including Captain Bates. A couple of the settlers carried burning torches, but all of them kept their weapons holstered and their hands visible. Of course Carlisle's and Jasper's hands were empty. Pantheon's eyes swept the scene contemptuously, and he drew himself up to his full height, towering over the welcoming party.

He found it necessary to speak aloud again and this obviously displeased him. "Where is she? Bring her to me now," he spat.

"It doesn't work that way, Pantheon," Carlisle answered. "We're willing to talk with you, but we will not tolerate a show of force."

"Brave words," Pantheon growled. "I doubt you can stand up to me, either physically or mentally. Do not speak to me of what you will or will not _tolerate_."

Carlisle shook his head. "Intimidation will not work here. We are not your kept flock, we are trained warriors."

Warriors, yes, and I itched to be there with them. I looked at Bella, afraid to touch her, she was concentrating so hard. Perhaps I could make her job easier. I turned to Liri and sent rather than spoke, so as not to distract Bella. _Liri, you said that Alpha sends only to Beta. Is that absolute?_

_Yes. He can hear everyone else, but he can't send to them. I must act as medium for his voice to go to you._

_So there's no way that that could change? You seemed caught by surprise by the destruct signal. You don't think he could adapt in some way…?_ I wanted to be sure, no more surprises.

_The tactic he used was not unknown to me. The situation had just never come up before. I would not put it past him to try alternative methods, but this shield of your mate's really has him stymied. How long can she keep it up?_

My eyes flickered to Bella. _A few hours at least. But not indefinitely. But..._ "I think I have a plan…" I said softly.

_Can I help?_ Liri looked pleadingly at me. I knew she felt responsible for our situation and guilty for putting us all in danger on her account.

_Yes. I'm going to need you to watch her for me, help her maintain focus. If she drops the shield, I need to know right away so I can act before Pantheon does._ I held her eyes as I continued aloud. "I'm going to bring all the females of the settlement here, so that Bella doesn't have to be so precise with the field. Then I'll stand with the males, and we will deal with Pantheon."

I heard Bella murmur, "No!" softly and turned to see her lips quivering, though her eyes remained closed and her control of the shield did not falter.

"Hush, love," I whispered as I kissed her forehead gently. "Stay focused. I'll be back soon." I left the suite swiftly, and set about putting my plan into action. It felt good to be _doing_ something instead of standing around listening to others.

I found Esme and Alice first and explained what the plan was. Alice suggested something to make it even easier for Bella; she and Esme would play hostess to the other females and keep watch over them while Bella shielded only Liri – if Pantheon tried to come after them, or for another female to make her his Beta, they would fall back and raise the alarm. They helped me bring all the women up to the common area of our house, and then I went back down to Bella and Liri.

"All right, love, it's just Liri you have to protect now," I said as I sat beside Bella and drew her into my arms. She opened her eyes and stared at Liri for a few moments as she focused, then smiled faintly, a look of relief on her face. I rubbed her temples to release the tension there, and then kissed her deeply before releasing her face and pulling back. Bella looked at me ruefully before smiling faintly again.

"Be safe," she told me, her beautiful chocolate eyes burning deeply into mine.

"Always, my love," I promised. "Liri, please tell me right away if there's something I need to know." And I hurried out.

~xXx~xXx~

When I joined Carlisle and Jasper, they were smiling, whereas Pantheon looked uncomfortable. Looking at him, I realized that he could hear everyone now, with the exception of Bella and Liri, and he was over-stimulated by the onslaught of intelligent thought. Well, more intelligent than the Cro-Magnon humankind thoughts he was used to, I amended.

"Ready to talk, Pantheon?" I asked, grinning. Carlisle shot me a warning look, which I ignored.

Pantheon shook his head, trying to clear it. "Words solve nothing. You cannot keep up your guard forever."

"Oh, but can't we? We only need to protect Liri until she dies, and you'll never be able to get one of our females to be your Beta." I shrugged. "Checkmate."

Pantheon regarded me evenly. "You're a brave little one, and more confident than you should be. No, I believe that time is my greatest ally at the moment. I've seen how deeply you love your mate. How long can you go without physically expressing your love for her? Especially when _my_ mate goes into her final death throes? She didn't tell you about that, did she?"

"About what?" asked Jasper, wary.

"She will be quite – demonstrative. Her final act is supposed to be mating and laying eggs, after all… it is genetically hard-wired. You will find that impossible to resist." His lips curled back from his ferocious teeth as he glared at me.

"Perhaps I will. I guess you'll just have to see how that plays out," I said with another shrug. I knew he was sifting through my thoughts for my true reaction, so I kept his words on the surface of my mind, didn't try to over-think them. If he figured that this was a big enough threat for me, then he wouldn't feel the need to come up with anything else.

He actually laughed as he turned away, an evil-sounding hiss. "Good luck with that. I'll be waiting for the wall to come down." His eyes swept the settlement once, coming to rest on the ledge partway up the cliff face, where the entrance to our home was, as if he could see through the rock. Then he was gone.

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**Mmmmn... the plot thickens... Pantheon seems to rival James and Victoria as a foe... who do you think is worse? I know I wouldn't want to meet any of them in an alley... and OMG I killed off two canon characters!!! y'all must hate me now...**

**Next update likely will not be until next Monday... there's a lot going on this week IRL...**

**Reviews get you peeks into the dark mind of Pantheon ;)**


	15. Chapter 15 Sanctuary ReVisited

**So... of course I was asked, why Emmett (and Rosalie)?? Believe me, it killed me to do that, but it had to happen for a couple of reasons. First, the emotions of humans are not enough to attract Pantheon, it had to be higher stakes. Second, it was a true wake-up call to the Cullens that one of them could be killed in this world by another's pure whim, therefore upping the ante in how seriously they dealt with Pantheon's threats. It had to be Emmett and Rosalie because they were the only expendable ones; all of the other Cullens will play meaningful parts over the next couple chapters. Sorry!!!!**

**As before, I don't own any part of Twilight, I just like to play!! :)**

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**Chapter Nine: Sanctuary Re-Visited**

Carlisle, Jasper, and I met in Bella's and my suite, so she would not have to extend her shield far, while Alice and Esme continued to entertain the women of the settlement in the common area of our home. I laughed with relief as we brought Bella and Liri up to speed. "I'm happy to let him think I'm the weak link. He need not know that Bella and I have some history in how to demonstrate our love beyond the purely physical."

Liri looked worried. _He was not joking when he said I would get – demonstrative. And it's not just my actions you have to worry about._

"I can handle lustful thoughts, trust me. As long as you don't try to attack Bella, we'll be fine." I smiled at her with a hint of humor in my tone, and then got more serious. "This destruct signal he sends… he will only send it for someone who is in an intense emotional state?"

_Perceptive,_ Liri observed. _Yes, that's true._

"Any intense emotion, or is it just passion?"

_I would think any highly-charged emotional state. But I cannot be certain. Why?_

"Well, this is obviously going to be going on for a bit, and Bella needs to be able to take breaks. If we can plan for that while still keeping everyone safe, that would be best, rather than scrambling when she happens to drop her guard." I grinned at Jasper, and he nodded in understanding.

"Yes, I could keep everyone calm, unless there was something already brewing," he affirmed. "And he's likely just to be focusing on you three…"

"No, no, keep it general," I said hurriedly, my grin gone. "I don't want any holes this time." He knew what I meant.

_I believe you'll find he has little interest in the emotional states of the humans in your settlement,_ Liri offered. _So you need only worry about protecting those in your family._

"Thank you," I said gratefully. "That is very good to know." At Bella's raised eyebrow, I shared Liri's revelation and she nodded in agreement. Another thought crossed my mind, and I turned back to Liri. "What about when he is dormant? Can he still send the signal then?"

_No, he can only monitor thoughts... sending the signal requires some physical exertion. But you may not want him listening in when you are being intimate... It could give him material to use against you later... _ She seemed embarrassed suddenly, and ducked her head down sheepishly. I chuckled humorlessly.

"All right." Carlisle sighed. "So your thinking is that we carry on as usual? And just bide our time?"

"That's what Pantheon will be doing, apparently," I affirmed. He was going to wait us out rather than attack, and it was better if we did the same; if Bella's guard went down at any time without Jasper to back her up, he would certainly take advantage, and the results could be disastrous. They already had been.

We set up a randomized schedule of when we would give Bella some respite, always when Pantheon would be dormant, subject to change of course when Liri would enter that period close to death, which we felt was still some time away. She had been strengthened by the blood of the buck I had given her, and seemed to have more energy.

My mind wandered outward as we planned, as I was curious now how Alice and Esme were faring upstairs. Both were excellent hostesses, and our guests seemed content for the time being, though of course they were all concerned about the recent developments and the presence of an alien in our midst. Since none of the women outside of our family had met Liri yet, there were many various images in their minds of what she might look like, some fairly ordinary, ranging to the purely fantastic. None of the women, even at close proximity, seemed to think that Esme and Alice were in fact different, though they certainly noticed their beauty and grace, and some were jealous of them. I felt strangely relieved by this revelation, even as I wondered why it was so.

There were also feelings present regarding the males in our family, attraction to one or the other of us. Ah, that explained the jealousy. A few had very strong feelings of attraction for me in particular, most especially a young green-eyed brunette by the name of Lilith Gessell, and I noted who they were so that I would not encourage them unknowingly. I hadn't really picked up on any of these feelings when we had been in training on Earth, likely because we had not spent much time with those outside our family then. Lilith had been but a child at the time, youngest daughter of one of the settler families. Now that we were all thrown together on a fairly regular basis, I supposed it was natural to expect that the humans would be attracted to us.

~xXx~xXx~

A long time passed, and life in the settlement for the humans returned to normal. We had returned the females in the settlement to their homes, since it seemed that while Liri remained alive, Pantheon's focus was on her rather than trying to make another female his Beta. He did not approach the settlement at all, though Liri reported that he stayed fairly close. We kept a watch on his "flock" of humanoids; while he did go to them to feed on a regular basis, he did not seem interested in making any of the females there his Beta, either.

Liri mingled freely with others in the settlement on a day-to-day basis, always within sight-line of Bella, and everyone grew to know and accept her. To the humans she was mute but made herself well understood through gestures and body language, speaking through one of our family when necessary.

Our family remained on high alert. Alice was unable to see anything, which frustrated her greatly. We relied on my mind-reading ability, even though I couldn't hear Pantheon, and Bella's shield. When Bella took a break, Jasper worked his influence to keep everyone calm. I was very careful around Bella, afraid to touch her except to hold hands, for fear of starting something we couldn't stop. She couldn't shield us when she was distracted.

It was with surprise that I realized how much my self control toward our physical relationship had eroded over time. It had been over a century since I had needed to be so careful about contact between us, and while I had learned many things about my ability to control myself during that time, things I still employed to this day in my dealings with humans, it was difficult to re-construct those controls in interacting with Bella. And it hurt, however much I understood the reason behind it, to see her be so cautious around me. I was the one at greater risk, we knew, since Pantheon could send the destruct signal through Liri to me but not to Bella should we get carried away.

As tempting as it was, Bella and I dared not even try to move beyond Pantheon's range in his dormant state in order to be intimate, though the other Cullen couples had regularly scheduled times to be alone, protected by Bella's shield. We could not take the chance that Pantheon was unable to act against us then, despite Liri's assurances.

I could no longer even hunt with Bella. Instead I hunted with Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper, and on a separate trip Alice and Jasper took Bella and Liri, hunting only overnight when Pantheon was dormant. Part of me resented the fact that Liri got to go with Bella where I dared not, and that she continued to be strengthened from hunting with my family, that we seemed to be prolonging the inevitable. I found myself praying for her death, and hating myself for it, that I could be so selfish.

Liri sensed my mood, even though she could not read my thoughts unless I sent to her, and kept her distance. Every so often I caught her watching me, though, with a deep sadness in her eyes.

Alice spent a good deal of time with Liri and Bella and helped them talk with each other, since Bella couldn't hear Liri. Bella was hesitant to share what they talked about, saying only that Liri was telling her more of what Pantheon used to be like. Alice kept her thoughts guarded from me, which only made me more curious.

Bella and I went for a walk one night on the cliffs above our home when she was taking a break from shield duty. The stars were beautiful, and I was happy to have some time alone with her to enjoy them. To my surprise, she seemed willing to talk tonight.

"Liri feels very badly that she's causing you pain," Bella said softly as she slipped her hand in mine. "She wants you to know it won't be much longer."

I felt a pang of guilt. Here I had all the time in the world, in the universe; how could I begrudge a fellow sentient any of that time? It was as if I _was_ hastening her death. I looked down at the face I knew so well, into the eyes that knew my thoughts even though she could not hear them. "I know. I'm sorry, love. I've been abysmal lately. If Carlisle weren't against it, I'd go after Pantheon now and end this."

She squeezed my hand tightly; it felt like a restraint. "I'm against it, too, for what it's worth. Pantheon will be a much easier target when we don't have to worry about a Beta."

I sighed, frustrated. I knew all the risks, of course. I just wanted this chapter in my life to be done, over, so that we could go back to enjoying our life on this new world. I wanted our demons gone. And then I had to laugh at myself. Were we not demons? The tension in my body lessened as I gained this perception.

Bella was silent for a time, looking at the stars. I knew there was something else on her mind, something that was making her uncomfortable. Finally, I had to ask the question. "What are you thinking now?"

She couldn't look at me. "Liri's always been attracted to you. She's been having thoughts lately about the two of you. She doesn't know how much is related to – the mating drive, but she thinks it's only going to get more intense with time. She's… warned me that she'll try to seduce you."

I chuckled, lifting her hand in mine and twining my fingers through hers. "I know. She can _try_, but she won't get far where I'm not attracted in return."

Bella didn't relax. "She told me that probably won't stop her, and that it's not just what she'll _do_ but what she'll _think_ at you to get you to respond." She hesitated. "If… if something happens, I want you to know now that I forgive you. I know it won't be your fault."

I stared at her, incredulous. "How could you even _think_ – that…" I couldn't even finish the thought. It was inconceivable.

Bella looked at her feet, miserable. "I _can't_ think it. Of course I don't expect it. But she's telling me it may be beyond even _your_ level of control, and… well, I don't want you to think you'd lose me over it. That I'd hate you for it."

I dropped to one knee at her feet, still holding her hand, forcing her to look into my eyes. "_Bella_. Bella, I love _you_. There was nobody before you, not for lack of anyone trying, and nothing _will_ happen between Liri and me." My voice rang with assurance.

She smiled back at me warmly and squeezed my hand, then pulled me to my feet. "All right, I believe you, love. But _you_ asked. I just put it out there." Her face twisted for a moment, then smoothed out quickly.

"What?"

She looked away again. "It's nothing."

I took her chin in my other hand gently and she brought her eyes back to mine. I raised an eyebrow and waited.

"If the tables were turned…" she started softly.

"…I would know it was not your fault. You wouldn't lose me over it, and I could never hate you," I finished for her. She finally relaxed, and I kissed her forehead gently, closing my eyes against the stirrings starting deep within me. I pulled away, still holding her hand, and we went back to walking and looking at the stars.

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**Mmmm... talk about frustration!! There's nothing like having to wait to act until the odds are better...**

**Next chapter will be much more... active... !!**

**It may be as long as a week before I post again, just due to the sheer volume of typing I have to do for work this week, never mind the press releases I have to start generating for another project I'm involved in. We'll see... I've been able to extend the story out from where it originally ended when I wrote it and flesh certain sections out a bit more, and the reviews I get have been helping with that process. Feedback is always welcome!**


	16. Chapter 16 Otherworldly Seduction

**My apologies for taking so long in posting this chapter... as expected, I've been swamped with work in RL... and unfortunately that's going to continue to be true for the rest of this month... :s**

**When I originally wrote this section, it was probably the sketchiest of all the chapters I wrote... actually it was just a tag/tail-end of the previous chapter, despite the obvious importance it has... so now it's its own chapter... took a bit to get it all 'fleshed out' (small pun haha)**

**This story is rated M for a reason! This installment is a prime example...**

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**Chapter Ten: Otherworldly Seduction**

A few nights after our conversation, I was sitting alone in our suite while Bella was on hunt with Liri, Jasper, and Alice. Upon their return, I could hear Jasper giving report to Carlisle and Esme; Liri was unable to feed while on hunt, even when Alice gave her a fresh kill. She was looking deathly pale and drained of energy; Jasper had to carry her down to our suite.

And yet, when she was brought into the room and caught sight of me sitting on the couch with a book, she suddenly became more animated. She sat and curled up beside me, tucking her body close against me and wrapping her thin arms around my waist. Jasper raised an eyebrow as he quickly left the room to summon Carlisle.

Carefully, I disengaged myself and stood, realizing immediately what was happening. "Excuse me, Liri." I moved to the door, and suddenly she launched herself across the room at me, landing lithely on my back. She melted her body against me, breathing unevenly in my ear.

_Edward… you've gone without for so long… come lay with me… I'll make you feel so good..._

With difficulty, because I was trying to be careful not to hurt her, I pulled her off my back and put her on the couch, holding her down while I looked in her eyes. "Liri, I don't want to hurt you. Please stop."

_I can't. I want you. _Now_._

"That's not possible," I said, as gently as I could. She struggled beneath me, and I knew that I could not let go of her, that I would never get out of the room by myself. "Jasper," I called.

Jasper re-entered the room just as the images started from her mind to mine. Images of her stimulating me, of me becoming aroused despite myself, of losing control, of taking her forcibly and bedding her. Very graphic images.

"Carlisle's on his way, Edward." Jasper spoke calmly, evenly, assessing the situation instantly and working his gift to ground me amidst the veritable storm of mental imagery that was flooding my brain on all channels. He laid a hand on my shoulder to strengthen the connection, and when he stiffened slightly, his eyes going wide, I realized he was receiving the images as well from Liri. His control wavered a moment as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he exerted himself again to calm both of us down.

Liri began to writhe under my hands now, a wanton expression on her face, her lower lip caught between her teeth. _Take me, Edward. You know you want to. Bella won't mind… she'll understand how we must be together..._

The images continued and I groaned as I felt my body start to respond to her despite Jasper's influences and my own will. "Jasper, take my place and hold her down, please. I need to get out of this room before I do something I'll regret."

Jasper stayed by my shoulder, unmoving, an odd expression on his face. "Edward, I can't. There's a complication…"

"What? I don't understand." Liri was still moving beneath my hands, but now she was touching herself and moaning softly. The images were still coming, focusing on details… and sensations… not mine; they must've been hers, she was projecting them on me, and I felt my penis straining against the confines of my jeans in response.

"You've got much better control than I… if you leave the room she may start in on me. Carlisle believes that there's a danger… that she could conceive by one of us." Jasper was doing his best, but I could tell that his control was starting to waver again. I didn't understand what he was telling me, it didn't make any sense, but I suddenly knew we wouldn't be able to control ourselves much longer.

"Then help me hold her down," I rasped out. Jasper left my shoulder as he was about to grab her legs. Swiftly Liri lunged and bit me on the arm just then, shocking me enough that I let go briefly. She immediately flew into my arms, locking herself against me with her arms and legs, straining herself against my lower abdomen and grinding against me as my length grew impossibly harder.

I no longer cared if I hurt her as I ripped her from me and threw her down on the couch, holding her down again roughly. Jasper grabbed and restrained her legs as we stood side by side in front of the couch, our own legs tangled together since Liri was so small. This seemed to excite her; she began moving beneath my hands again, thrusting her hips off the couch. The images shifted again, and now I saw true danger, as she was imagining Bella in my arms. Bella, breathing raggedly, kissing my face, my throat, running her hands down my chest, my belly, farther down…

I moaned softly as I felt pre-cum leak from my tip; I _saw_ Bella beneath my hands, her eyes closed, moaning in passion. I _felt_ her as she reached for me, pulled me down on top of her… Jasper and I were both straight-armed as we held her down against the couch. I could tell that he was just aroused as I was and that neither of us was going to last much longer. My breath was coming in ragged gasps and my hips were moving of their own accord as I struggled to stay in control. Unconsciously, I was moving against Jasper as my body sought to satisfy its need for increased friction; while I was by no means attracted to Jasper sexually, to do so was preferable to allowing myself to touch Liri in any manner other than the necessary restraint. Jasper for his part had stopped breathing entirely and he stood frozen in place with his eyes shut in absolute concentration, his stone face contorted with the effort of keeping matters from spiraling out of control. He didn't seem disturbed at all as I continued to rub against him, for which I was grateful, even as I was ashamed at my need to do so.

Carlisle came in swiftly, a breath of fresh air. His eyes took in the scene, and he hurried to retrieve something from the black bag he had with him. As he started drawing something up in a syringe, Liri let out a scream, the first true vocalization I had ever heard from her, and her concentration on me intensified as she locked my eyes within her gaze. She tore an arm away from my grasp and ripped open my jeans at the fly; she then seized the waistband of my jeans to draw me in closer to her.

I knew in that instant that I was no match for her dying burst of strength; instead I let myself go over the edge before she could have me penetrate her and came hard into my pants, thereby wasting my seed and robbing her of the opportunity it afforded. As my eyes slid closed and I groaned into my release, I heard a low, guttural moan as Jasper came right along with me; Liri screamed again and I suddenly began to feel searing pain, starting low in my abdomen and spreading out rapidly. My body started to glow a dull red, getting brighter by the second. Liri. My eyes flew open again in shock as I realized that _she_ was sending the destruct signal, without Pantheon's interaction nor guidance as he was still dormant. Her gaze was fixed intently on me, her green eyes shining more brightly than I had ever seen before. The look of a killer. My voice choked in my throat as I tried to call out. "Carlisle!"

He was at my side in an instant, placing a hand on my shoulder. _I've got this, son._ He injected Liri with whatever was in the syringe; she went limp instantly. The red-hot burn immediately died back and the pain faded as my body cooled back down. I gasped in relief as Jasper gripped me tightly in a sudden overflow of emotion. A sob tore from his throat as he murmured, "Edward, I thought we were going to lose you, too."

Carlisle looked up then and smiled at us both. Jasper released me and left the room in search of Alice to help him re-group after this intense experience. Carlisle held my gaze a bit longer, his relief for my continued existence evident in his features. I acknowledged him with a slow nod, somewhat embarrassed for his having been present for my overtly sexual behavior with Jasper and subsequent intense climax, even as I knew he was aware that I had unwillingly been privy to his own sexual behavior on numerous occasions. He sensed this somehow as a slight smile curved his lips upwards.

_Go to Bella quickly, she's waiting for you next door._

I moved stiffly and left the room as Carlisle started working over Liri, easing her final passage. Bella met me at the door to our bedroom and drew me inside; I pulled her to me hungrily.

"What about Pantheon now?" I asked as I kissed her.

"We don't need to worry for the moment; he can't act against us with Liri out of commission," she answered softly. That was all I needed to hear. I swept her into my arms and carried her to our bed.

My earlier release had only whetted my appetite to join with Bella, and our touches quickly became urgent as we lay together on our bed. Her hands moved over my torn fly and I grimaced as my hips automatically thrust against her. "That's as close as she got, love."

"I know," she whispered in my ear as she took my jeans down to my knees and slipped a hand inside my pants, wrapping her fingers around my length and stroking gently as she kissed along my neck. "It's so wet in there... almost as wet as I am for you."

I groaned and yanked my pants and jeans off roughly, pulling her on top of me as soon as my legs were free. "I can't wait to be inside you... please, Bella..."

Bella continued to grip me, her small hand moving slowly up and around the head of me, squeezing. Her mouth was by my ear. "I am eager for you, too, my love." My breath hitched and I turned my head to capture her lips in mine. The kiss was quick and chaste and then she was sitting up, straddling my thighs as she continued to stroke me. She regarded me calmly for a moment, her eyes hooded and dark, so dark... then in a quick movement her clothes were in tatters around us and she was poised above me, a smirk on her beautiful face.

"Is this what you want?" Her voice was low and rough. Aaaahh, the sweet torture... I was already close.

I gripped her thighs tightly as a growl rumbled up from my chest and she allowed me to pull her down over my length. My jaw clenched with the effort to not climax right away as I filled her quickly and held her tightly against me. "Don't... move yet... give me... a minute..." I managed through my teeth and then I made the mistake of looking up. Bella's hands were just moving up to cup her breasts as she arched her back, her long dark hair a curtain around her pale marble form. So glorious. Glorious torture. Somehow I managed not to come right then.

I closed my eyes tightly and concentrated on slowing my non-essential breathing until I was sure I could continue with a modicum of dignity. Bella began to move as soon as I released her hips and immediately set a hard, fast rhythm. Both of us were beyond teasing now and were reduced to our most base desires. I opened my eyes to meet her intense gaze as she moved above me. Our breathing quickly became ragged and movements erratic as I focused solely on her eyes and she on mine. I could feel the delicious build-up in the pit of my abdomen grow and spread over my body; suddenly I teetered on the edge of the precipice.

"Bella!" I warned, and felt her immediate response as she clamped down around me repeatedly, calling out my name as she came. I fell over the edge right after her, moaning her name into her shoulder over and over as I thrust deeply one last time, stilled, and released into her.

Sated for the moment, I looked in Bella's eyes again and found only acceptance and love, trust and understanding for the trials that had been experienced this day. I wasn't sure for myself how I felt about it all, but was grateful for Bella's unconditional love. It appeared that we had all the time in the world to gain perspective. For now, Bella and I were going to make up for lost time... the night was still young...

...

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**Don't worry, Edward and Jasper aren't going to become an item here... it was one of those heat-of-the-moment things for them... and my nod to the not insubstantial amount of E/J material that is out there, which I do enjoy...**

**So it seems Liri was capable of just about anything in her death throes, eh?**

**Wonder where this leaves Pantheon, now...?**


	17. Chapter 17 Pantheon

**It's been a long hard week... about to go through state inspection at work, so been doing a LOT of audits of the programs I support, and then having to type those audits out, and respond to a heavy beeper week as well... *phew* Luckily, this chapter was mostly written, I just had to fine-tune it and flesh it out a bit.**

**As always I don't own the world of Twilight, I just like to play!**

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**Chapter Eleven Pantheon**

Liri was gone; her death had been swift and painless in the end, thanks to Carlisle's ministrations. We carried her body to the mouth of the valley, just beyond the border of the settlement, and burned it on an open pyre so that there could be no possibility of reanimation. Bella insisted on a memorial service for her there, though we kept it brief; both Bella and Alice spoke of what they knew of Liri as a friend while we watched the heavy purple plume rise from the pyre. We knew Pantheon was watching, and that he would move soon to make another female his Beta.

We brought all of the females of the settlement up to our house again upon our return. They came willingly enough, though they did not understand the necessity and we could not reveal the reason why, for safety's sake. We did not wish to start a panic. Esme and Alice acted as hostesses again, and told them only that Pantheon was still at large and that plans were being made to deal with whatever threat he might present, without saying what that threat might be. Speculation ran wild among the women, and a couple of them guessed that he might be looking for a mate, but had no idea of what that would mean. I monitored all of their thoughts carefully, in order to be aware of any troublesome trends, while Carlisle, Jasper, and I convened downstairs in Bella's and my suite.

Bella shielded us while we talked strategy; Captain Bates joined us, as did the other leaders within the settlement. We knew Pantheon would prefer to make one of the settler women his Beta over one of the Cro-Magnon humanoid women – better genes to pass on for the next generation. We needed to make him think he had a chance at getting one of them, lure him in so that we could destroy him, all without him knowing what was in our minds.

I wished now that Liri was there to consult on how best to go about this. I realized how much she had become a part of our family, now that she was gone, and regretted even more bitterly that I had begrudged her in life the time she had spent with us. She had become close to Alice and Bella too, and they missed her now.

I asked Carlisle privately, as we struggled to come up with a plan, what he'd meant when he said that Liri could have conceived if she'd mated with either Jasper or me. He explained that while our kind were certainly frozen in development at the time of transformation, that males apparently remained fertile, and that there were some documented cases where a vampire male had impregnated a human female. Such pregnancies ended tragically, with the baby half-breed killing the mother during the process, ripping her apart from the inside out. He did not know whether the physiologies were similar enough for a female of Liri's kind to become pregnant, but the possibility certainly was there. I shuddered, thinking of what could have been had either Jasper or I succumbed.

Bella eventually posited a plan that looked feasible, though it was not without risk. We knew that he would not likely come into the settlement after a female, but that if a small group of them left the settlement on an expedition, he wouldn't be able to resist. She would leave them unshielded; they would be charged with a mission, not realizing they were bait. We (the whole family) would follow, shielded by Bella until Pantheon made his move. Captain Bates wanted to throw some additional manpower into it. Carlisle considered this briefly before rejecting it and making a counter-offer; a troop could be at the expedition site already, unaware of the true nature of the mission so they would not need to be shielded. Captain Bates agreed.

We sent a contingent of men to the area where Pantheon's "flock" of humanoids was kept, to ring it loosely; the mission was to keep watch to see if Pantheon went there to try to turn one of the Cro-Magnon females into a Beta. Captain Bates himself manned the troop.

Carlisle, Bella and I sifted through the female settlers for likely bait to set the trap. We wanted women who could defend themselves in a fight – most of the women here qualified – but who would also appeal to him as having desirable traits for carrying on the race.

We finally settled on a half-dozen women, girls really. All were young, not yet out of their teen years. The youngest was just seventeen; Bella and I looked each other over her head. Both of us had been seventeen when we were frozen in this state, both of us against our wills. Lilith Gessel looked so fresh, so innocent, and yet she fought like a tiger in combat maneuvers. She was also quite attracted to me, I knew, though this fact in no way weighted our decision to use her for this mission.

The mission, to their understanding, was to be to go to the humanoids and establish contact, to see if they could communicate with them. We told them they were picked for their non-threatening natures, though they could defend themselves "if it came to that." Carlisle told them that we were particularly interested in whether their development mirrored that of Cro-Magnon during their time period on Earth. All of these young women were intelligent, restless in their studies, and eager to go on this "field trip."

They set off, and we gave them a bit of a head start before we followed, keeping out of sight. Bella moved beside me, her face set in concentration as she kept us shielded. I followed Lilith's mind as she walked swiftly with the other girls, keeping up a marching pace. Her mind was the easiest to read; I wondered if Pantheon would find it so, whether he would be drawn to this one above the others.

The irony of her given name was not lost on me, as I recalled the legends of ancient Israel. In them, the Queen of the demons is Lilith, long-haired and winged. She is supposed to have been the first wife of Adam. She had once been one of the wives of Sammael, but due to a wild and passionate nature, she left her spouse and joined Adam. From their union supposedly issued the demons, who rode about in the world as wicked spirits, persecuting men, and bringing upon them illness, disease, and other sufferings.

Lilith, like Adam, had been created from the dust of the earth. But as soon as she had joined Adam they began to quarrel, each refusing to be subservient to the other. "I am your lord and master," spoke Adam, "and it is your duty to obey me." But Lilith replied: "We are both equal, for we are both issued from dust, and I will not be submissive to you." And thus they quarreled and neither would give in. And when Lilith saw this she spoke the Name of the Creator and soared up into the air. Thereupon Adam stood in prayer before the Creator and said: "O Lord of the Universe, the woman you have given me has fled from me."

And the Creator sent three angels to fetch and bring Lilith back to Adam. He ordered them to tell her to return, and if he refused to obey then a hundred of her offspring would die daily. The three angels followed Lilith, and they found her in the midst of the sea, on the mighty waves.

They communicated to her the command of the Eternal, but she refused to return. And the angels told her, this she-demon: "We will drown you in the sea." But she answered: "Know ye not that I have been created for the purpose of weakening and punishing little children, infants and babes. I have power over them from the day they are born until they are eight days old if they are boys, and until the twentieth day if they are girls." And when the three angels heard her speech they wished to drown her by force, but she begged them to let her live, and they gave in. She swore to them in the name of the Creator that whenever she came and saw the names or images or faces of these three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof, upon an amulet or cameo in the room where there was an infant, she would not touch it. But because she did not return to Adam, every day a hundred of her own children or spirits and demons die.

The book known as the _Sefer Rasiel_ describes the formula to be written upon amulets or cameos and to be placed in the rooms where there are new-born babes. It refers to Lilith as the _first Eve_, and conjures her in the name of the three angels and the angel of the sea to whom she had sworn not to harm the babes in whose rooms she found written on paper the names of the three angels.

Lilith is thus a female night demon, and is also known under the name of _Meyalleleth_ or the howling one...

Demon, indeed. Lilith actually reminded me greatly of Liri, with her pale blonde hair and bright green eyes, and so I thought this might be another reason for Pantheon to choose her. She seemed a bit of a wild spirit, dancing ahead of the other girls in her eagerness to get to the strange humanoids. Her thoughts, at least, were a bit more predictable. She was enjoying the day, the break from routine.

It did not take long for Pantheon to make himself known. He was suddenly there as the girls came over a small rise of sandy hills, not far from where the humanoids were. His gaze went straight to Lilith. His lizard-like face was unreadable.

She was not afraid of him. The other girls stopped short behind her, however, suddenly terrified. Lilith met his gaze evenly, and stood her ground as he advanced on her slowly.

His voice was low and gruff as he addressed her. "Where are you going?" I knew he wanted to see if the knowledge the girls had was the knowledge he read in their minds.

Lilith smiled. "We wanted to check out the humanoids you keep here, to see how far advanced in development they are. Just a friendly little field trip."

"Really?" Pantheon sidled closer, now just a few paces away from her. "Hoping to make friends? They are beneath you. Barely sentient."

Lilith shrugged. "I'll bet you don't think much better of _us_."

He regarded her for a moment, something like amusement crossing over his face and disappearing again. "You might be surprised," he said, taking another step and reaching out his hand.

That was as close as Carlisle was comfortable with. He gave the signal to attack, and we were suddenly in the air, flying blurs streaking at Pantheon. Captain Bates and several of his guard also joined in from their side.

But we were not fast enough. Pantheon reacted instantly, snatching Lilith and flying away from us, flipping through the air to land several hundred feet away from all parties. Lilith started fighting against him right away, valiantly, but he cut through her defenses effortlessly and bit into her neck. She screamed in pain and kept on screaming and thrashing about as he tucked her under his arm and loped away.

Horrified, I went after him, the others streaking behind me. Being the fastest, I got to him the quickest and I knocked him to the ground from behind; Lilith flew off to the side, landing in soft sand. Carlisle went straight to her while the rest of my family pinned Pantheon down. Jasper went right for his neck, pulling his head up sharply by the hair, while Alice called to Captain Bates and his men to start a fire.

My anger at being unable to protect Lilith flared as I stood frozen and glared at Pantheon, my fists clenched at my sides. I locked his eyes within my gaze; I was aware of his rising desperation at being pinned down, and also of his arousal at his successful acquisition of Lilith. My own anger grew until it seemed almost a tangible force in my mind, a bolt of energy. As Pantheon struggled beneath their hands, I concentrated on the tenor of his thoughts, even though I couldn't read them clearly; I felt the bolt of energy in my mind slowly build to white-hot intensity.

Pantheon suddenly gasped and his lizard-like eyes went wide as continued to look into my eyes; I saw fear there. Instinctively, I took the blinding white bolt of energy and _pushed_ it, focused it on him, and he began to scream. Alice yelled at our family to stand down and get clear; Pantheon was suddenly laying prostrate before me, still screaming.

I _pushed_ at him further and saw his body start to glow red-hot, starting from his center and spreading rapidly as he continued to keen loudly. Fascinated, I watched the glow intensify as I continued to _push_, and go to white as the air around him began to shimmer.

Suddenly a mighty crack sounded as his body split in several pieces, and then there was an explosion. I went to ground immediately, shielding myself from the energy of the blast as best I could. The force dissipated quickly as stony bits flew everywhere.

In seconds it was over, and we all stood up and stared around at the devastation left by the blast. It was eerily quiet following the terrible screams of the doomed monster in the thrall of his death throes.

It seemed anticlimactic to have it end this way after all the tension and angst of the previous weeks. Except it wasn't over...

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**I should mention my indebtedness to Wikipedia... for providing me the info on the legend of Lilith (I knew of it, but not all the details, and wanted to make sure I got it right). Fitting name, eh? Wonder what happens to her...**

**I _think_ there's one more chapter left, and then an epilogue... I say 'think' because this story has already gone two chapters past what it had originally... so I may surprise myself. It's already been quite the learning experience. I already have an idea or two in the works for future stories... one I am definitely saving for Nanowrimo time this November, but I definitely don't want to wait that long to write something! I'm thinking I may want to play more with this AU I've created... any ideas of what anyone would like to see explored?**


	18. Chapter 18 Vampiric Evolution

**This is _not_ the last chapter, folks... if Edward, Bella, and Lilith have anything to say about it, which apparently they do!!**

**When I participated in my first-ever NaNoWriMo, back in 2007, there was a point at which the characters took up residence inside my head and directed the particulars, telling me how they wanted their story told, though I was in control of the general outline. It was a fascinating collaboration, and the words flew.**

**In originally writing this story during a subsequent NaNoWriMo, it wasn't the same. I was far too intimidated by canon and was afraid to really let the characters take over. As a result, I really struggled with it, and the story ended shortly after Pantheon's death, as it met the obligatory 50K words for the contest. Editing the story now for here, especially after having read other stories on ffnet, I've relaxed enough to 'let go' some of the control to the characters, and oh my look what's happened...**

**As usual, I do not own Twilight, I just like to play...**

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**Chapter Twelve Vampiric Evolution**

Stunned silence hung like a dark cloud over the scene of devastation as all eyes turned to me. The shock was so complete that even their minds were silent. My own was racing.

What in the name of all that was good and holy had I _DONE_? and _HOW_? I had had no inkling that such an outcome was possible... and yet it had come as naturally as... breathing... to do this thing. To concentrate such power as to literally blow apart a living being.

Carlisle regained his faculties first and immediately turned back to Lilith. I watched Pantheon's death again through his mind's eye as he tried to make sense of what had happened while he checked her over. He was wondering if this had truly been my doing, or if I had served merely as the focusing instrument for Pantheon, turning it back on him in my accustomed way of absolute concentration.

As the humans returned to cogent thought, I saw the scene again and again from many different viewpoints as they began to murmur to each other, still eying me guardedly. One detail seemed to stand out in common amidst all of their observations: the way that my eyes had _glowed_ with increasing intensity as Pantheon's body heated up. Did they fear me now? No, they just seemed wary... and grateful for the elimination of the threat Pantheon had presented.

Given all of these observations and how I had _felt_ when it was happening, the creation of the bolt and how I had _pushed_ it, I formed the theory that _I_ had done this, that _I_ had somehow... evolved or changed on this new world, acquiring the ability to do this. I had become a true monster here, as I had been a monster on Earth. To test this theory, unfortunately, would mean that I would have to do it again. This was unpalatable to me. Even the monster had limits. I didn't _want_ to be a monster...

Groaning inwardly, I turned to Carlisle. He looked grim. Lilith lay still beneath his hands. "Is – she…"

"No. But she is no longer human. I've never seen venom work so fast." Carlisle shook his head in disbelief. I looked at the young girl, lying still on the ground, her blonde hair swept up above her head in the sand, out of the way. Her face was contorted and her breathing was shallow.

Carlisle picked Lilith up carefully. "I'm sorry, Captain Bates. I know this will be a terrible loss for her father. She won't be able to stay among humans now."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," said Captain Bates, a puzzled look on his face. "Liri lived with you without a problem."

"She was considerably older, and had developed a conscience about such things. Lilith will want human blood when she wakens, and will not be easily dissuaded. We will take her hunting and try to show her alternatives, but it may be some time before she's – civilized, if ever." Carlisle chose his words with care, knowing he was but a step away from the floodgates of questions opening up, of focusing on _us_.

"_How_ long? Lilith is his only child, this will shatter him." Captain Bates's only concern at this time was the immediate situation; though he registered the words Carlisle used, he set them aside for a later time.

Carlisle shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I don't know, there are so many unknowns at work here. I only know it's not possible now." He looked down at the girl in his arms, deep in thought. "Hmmmn."

"Yes?" asked the Captain, his face and voice desperate. John Gessel was a close friend of his, and he had known Lilith since she was a baby. I knew what Carlisle was thinking, but kept my face carefully impassive.

"I need to get her to the medical facility," Carlisle said quietly. "She needs more – surgery. After that, John may be able to see her, at least to say good-bye." He moved rapidly away, breaking into a run back toward the settlement. I followed him. The way was clear; no one intercepted us.

Back at the medical facility, I assisted Carlisle as he anesthetized Lilith and began to work on her. This was not his usual _modus operandi_, to modify an individual in this way. But this was not a usual situation. It called for extraordinary measures. Fortunately, since she was a living being, we were able to operate on her in a conventional manner to effect these changes, and her body would accept the anesthetic. I bitterly recalled how the anesthetic had not worked for Bella during her transformation; she had not wanted to let me know about that, but I had found out from Carlisle about the agony she had suffered when she had finally told him as he was trying to save Irina's new mate, Jason, for her. There was no way to dull the pain of our transformation, though apparently Lilith's had gone so quickly that she had not suffered as much.

The first procedure Carlisle performed was permanent sterilization, removing all of her reproductive organs. Normally this would have been a huge conflict for him, but he did not hesitate now. There was the very real possibility that she would try to come after me as Liri had, especially given her obvious attraction to me before this tragedy had occurred to her. Liri had had good reason why she did not wish her species to continue, and he would honor that. Lilith would truly be the last of her kind.

The other procedures he performed were meant to be reversible. He disabled her sense of smell by placing a clip on the olfactory nerve, then wired her jaw shut with a strong metal alloy. There was just enough leeway for her to drink through a straw. He would reverse these conditions just before we moved her away from the settlement so that she would be able to hunt effectively; he only wanted her father to be safe in her presence for now. We would of course supervise the good-bye visit as well.

We checked the patency of the wiring as she was coming off the anesthesia, and then fed her animal blood that we had stored for emergencies. Perhaps if she started with animal blood in her system when she awoke to her new life she could adjust that much faster.

John Gessel came to us while his daughter was still in recovery, and we allowed him to see her. She was still mostly unconscious, of course, but he could see that she was alive, even though she had obviously changed. Carlisle explained about what she had become and what we had done to make it safer for John and for the rest of the settlement in the short term, but that we would need to take her away for awhile to help her adjust to her new life.

John took the news fairly well and expressed hope that he might see her some time in the future. He left before she woke up, at our request, with the promise that we would call him when she was ready to see him.

Bella joined us as Lilith began to stir. Lilith opened her eyes and sat up, one hand on her jaw as she felt the presence of the wiring. Carlisle took her hand and held it as he explained to her what she had become. Her green eyes widened as she took it all in, glowing faintly in the dim light.

Lilith smiled tentatively up at Bella as she tried sending for the first time. _You'll help me get used to all this, right? Like you helped that other girl?_ I translated aloud for her and Bella nodded.

"How do you feel?" Bella asked her.

_My jaw and abdomen are a little sore. Otherwise I feel fine. Can I see my father? Can I get out of here?_ Lilith was anxious to get back to being normal, not impressed at all with her "last of the species" status.

"In good time," Carlisle answered. "We want to be sure you can handle it first. You can see your father tomorrow. Tonight we'd like you to rest here so we can monitor you and make sure everything is working as it should. We had to make a few changes to make you safe to be around the humans." She raised her eyebrows at that and he went on to describe the "temporary renovations" he'd made. Lilith grimaced, then nodded. She understood.

Bella and I monitored Lilith throughout the night, with Carlisle checking in occasionally. Lilith was surprised at not feeling sleepy the whole night, telling us that she used to be a night owl in her habits but generally crashed around three in the morning. Though she was still a living being, it seemed that the transformation she had undergone made it so that her body no longer required sleep. We fed her more animal blood to help her recover from the surgery we had performed, and answered her questions as they came to her through the long night.

One concept she did have trouble getting used to was her newly-extended lifespan. _So, I'm going to live – for centuries. Everyone I know will die before me. How do I handle that?_

"We'll still be here," I told her. "And there will be other humans. The human race won't die out. You'll manage. Some of us try not to form any attachments, but that can cheat you out of the full experience." I smiled at Bella. Lilith nodded, trying to wrap her mind around that.

Her attraction to me was still very evident in the way she gazed at me and hung on my every word. And, of course, her thoughts; even though her father had done a good job of protecting her and she was still a virgin, the scenarios she imagined for the two of us were quite explicit. I finally had to address it with her when she 'accidentally' rubbed up against me.

"Lilith..." gently. No need to be harsh. "You know that I'm married, right?" I saw Bella out of the corner of my eye as she watched the two of us. She did not seem upset, more like... amused. It wasn't as if this scene had not been played out a million times before, for both of us.

Lilith looked embarrassed. _I'm sorry – you're just so... beautiful. And you look to be my age..._

"Looks can be deceiving," I cut in, still gentle. "I'm not angry, Lilith. I just want to be sure you understand that it can't ever work out between us. For me there is only Bella."

_A girl can dream._ She looked wistful.

"Yes, she can... and I hope for you that someday someone will be that special someone for you. In the meantime..." I winced. There was no easy way to put this. "Please – moderate your thoughts. I'm not sure you knew, but I can hear them."

Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew very wide. _I'm so sorry. Please forgive me._

I acknowledged her apology with a brief nod, and her thoughts were subdued for the rest of the night.

~xXx~xXx~

The next morning, we called John to come back and meet his daughter. Carlisle stayed with them to translate and explain while Bella and I had some time alone, and called us back a few hours later when John had left again. It was time to discuss Lilith's immediate future, and ours as well.

Lilith seemed content with how things had gone with her father. She'd done very well, with not even a question of wanting his blood, and was eager to go back to her old life. Carlisle was not sure if she might perhaps be oversimplifying the whole situation, not taking her new status seriously. We knew we'd have to take her away for a time, to help her adjust.

We invited Captain Bates to join the discussion as well, since it was obvious that we were going to have to tell him what we were, now. He also brought other considerations to the table.

"Dr. Cullen, we need to talk about the humanoids that Pantheon was keeping. We were able to establish contact with them, and they seem to be fairly similar to what Cro-Magnon was on Earth."

"Yes? Well, can't we just let them be? They've stayed pretty much in one area and haven't bothered us." Carlisle wasn't sure where the Captain was going with this.

"That's because they were being farmed. They actually have collars on their necks and there is an electrified fence running underneath the perimeter of the proscribed area where Pantheon was keeping them. The question is, do we let that stand, or do we free them to roam the planet?"

A horrified look crossed over Carlisle's face at the idea of farming a sentient species, but then he was thoughtful for a time. I knew he was thinking about Lilith, still an unknown quantity in terms of her control.

"Well, until Lilith has fully adapted to her new lifestyle, it might be prudent to keep them from roaming free, where one could possibly cross her path as she was hunting."

"Good point," said Captain Bates. Then he hesitated. "Say… we've never talked about this hunting thing you do."

"No, we haven't," Carlisle agreed as I winced slightly. "What do you want to know about it?"

"Do you think I might be able to come with you sometime? I used to be something of a sportsman on Earth."

"I don't think that would be wise," answered Carlisle quietly. "You would get – hurt."

"What – are you a bad shot?" Captain Bates laughed nervously.

"No, I never miss. But – _mistakes_ happen." Carlisle watched his face carefully. "I'm sure you're aware that my family and I are... _different_. But we have lived and worked beside you in harmony all this time and we do not intend for that to change. Does it matter to you what we are?"

"No, I don't suppose that it does," the Captain answered quietly after a pause. "We've been so grateful to have you on our team; your whole family has just been invaluable. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," answered Carlisle carefully. "I do need to tell you about our kind now, because some of us are going to need to take Lilith away to help her become accustomed to her new life, but Esme and I intend to remain behind to support the hospital."

"Your kind?" Captain Bates eyed him curiously. Carlisle looked to me and I nodded back; the Captain's mind was open and inquiring, with no hint of fear or foreboding.

"Yes." Oh, it was so hard for Carlisle to say this; it was as if the Volturi were still looking over our shoulders. "My family is actually a long-standing coven. A coven of vampires."

* * *

**See? I'm learning...**

**Work is continuing to bite my arse, between state inspection over the next two weeks and some hair-curling clinical situations, so I can't promise when I'll update next, but I'd like to hope I can keep to a weekly schedule. My journal is always by my side to help with the writing process, especially since from here on in, it's all new material I'll be writing. Please let me know what you think so far, your input is valuable to me and definitely affects my writing!**


	19. Chapter 19 Arrangements & Considerations

**So sorry to have taken so long to update! RL has begun to settle down, at work at least, and I'll be taking a vacation soon to kind of re-group and get back on track in other areas. It's all new material I'm writing now, rather than editing what I've already written, so it does take longer, but hopefully it's all worth it!!**

**So let's listen in while they hash it all out, shall we?**

**Chapter Thirteen Arrangements and Considerations**

"_My family is actually a long-standing coven. A coven of vampires."_

It was as if the Captain's mind shut down and then re-booted. He sat still for some time, staring at Carlisle, and then blinked rapidly several times. Our family, ranged around the long table, watched him anxiously. Lilith, sitting beside Jasper, dropped her jaw in shock, her eyes wide.

"Oh. Well – hmmmmn... that explains a lot." His brow furrowed for a moment. "You know, I would read all of the lore, growing up, about the supernatural. It's just such a shock to see it in the flesh, so to speak. A real rush, actually." He grinned suddenly. "Do you mind if I ask questions about it?"

"Please do," Carlisle answered mildly. I suppressed an eyeroll, knowing what would be coming.

"There are so many legends... hmmmn... does garlic do anything?"

Jasper laughed, and Alice giggled as he answered, "I really like the smell."

"So do I," said Bella, and then she added gently, "Wooden stakes and crosses are useless against us as well."

"Oh. So what can we do to kill you instead?" the Captain asked. "Not that I'm trying to 'off' you or anything, just curious!" he added hastily as we all shifted in our seats at the question. He fingered his neck unconsciously, a nervous gesture.

"There is nothing that is within your power to do, " answered Carlisle cautiously. "Though certainly you've seen that it can be accomplished."

"Yes... I'm sorry for your loss," said Captain Bates earnestly. He was of course thinking of Emmett and Rosalie, running through his impression of them in his mind as he spoke. He'd liked them, though he hadn't known them very well.

"Do you sleep in coffins?" he asked next, hesitantly.

"We don't sleep," Bella answered softly, no doubt recalling her first visit to the Cullen family home so many years ago and her own surprise at this revelation. Her eyes flicked to mine and she smiled. I took her hand, twining my fingers into hers, and brought it to my lips to kiss her knuckles before bringing it back to rest in my lap.

"Never?" Captain Bates was incredulous. He was quite fond of 'sleeping in' when he could, and couldn't imagine even skipping a single night's sleep at his age, though he remembered pulling 'all-nighters' in his youth.

"No, not ever," I affirmed. "Which gives us limitless time for other... pursuits."

"Such as...?" the Captain tried to imagine what we would care to do with all that extra free time, whether it would be mundane or fantastical. He knew what _he'd_ do with all that extra time... so many side projects he could get done...

"Jasper is a professional student of history and philosophy, and Alice enjoys keeping up on the latest fashions and trends," Esme answered with more than a hint of pride in her voice. "Bella is an award-winning pastry chef and Edward is an accomplished musician."

"That's amazing," Captain Bates said appreciatively. "And you've certainly not been idle here, though I never realized before that you went 'round the clock."

"Starting a settlement on a new world is a fairly industrious undertaking," Carlisle acknowledged. "You yourself have accomplished much, even given your... human limitations."

Captain Bates laughed heartily. "Thank you. So – what other myths can we dispel? Obviously sunlight doesn't bother you, though you do tend to stay indoors..."

"The effect of the sun here is not as dramatic as it was on Earth, but you're right, it doesn't hurt us," Alice giggled. She grew serious after a moment, and fixed him with an intent stare, emphasizing her next words. "We ARE very fast. We ARE very strong. And as to the most important question of all, our kind _do_ prefer human blood."

"Then why haven't you..." the Captain's voice trailed off as he swallowed noisily. Fear sparked briefly in his thoughts as he thought back through all the times we had worked side by side in establishing this colony. _But they've never... how... _

Carlisle fixed him in the eyes with his own steady gaze, his luminous blue eyes intense.

"Because it benefits all of us that we _choose_ to be more... civilized," he answered quietly. "It is worth the sacrifice for us in order to reap these benefits because it lends meaning to our existence." He paused to let his words sink in, then looked to me to see if his meaning had been taken. I nodded subtly.

"Has that ever – _not_ been the case for you, in the past?" the Captain asked hesitantly.

"Yes, for some of us, for various reasons. All of us are dangerous to you, always. You would be right to fear us. But there is so much more to be gained by trusting each other."

"I don't _really_ fear you. Perhaps I should. But I agree we have much to offer each other."

"Yes... in fact – not to be unnecessarily gruesome..."

"Yes...?"

"One exchange I would like to set up, especially in light of a new voracious blood drinker in our midst is blood for meat – any kills we make we of course drain the blood from and then pass the carcass on to you to use; any kill you make you drain and bank the blood for us to use in emergencies or famine conditions, and you're welcome to the rest. I think it's a sound move to make in the interests of ecological preservation." Carlisle smiled hopefully at Captain Bates, hoping his suggestion of this partnership would not be dismissed out-of-hand. It so pained him to be wasteful with natural resources.

Luckily, Captain Bates seemed taken with the suggestion. "That's an excellent idea. Not many of the settlers have been keen on hunting, surprisingly enough, and now we won't need as many, we can free them up to do other things."

"That will be be a very good thing, since several of us will be removing ourselves from the settlement for an extended period of time in order to train Lilith to her new way of life," Jasper replied drily.

"Who will be leaving, exactly?" Captain Bates stood to stretch his muscles; he had been sitting a long time and was starting to feel stiff.

Carlisle stood with him and moved to stand behind Lilith, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Lilith, of course. Jasper has extensive experience in training newborns, so he will be going as head of the scout party, and Alice will of course accompany him."

"I can be the early earning system," Alice giggled, bouncing in her seat. The Captain arched an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

"Bella and I will go as well, for additional protection," I added quietly. I knew that in the end Carlisle was leaving this decision up to us, even though I didn't see any other way to do this tolerably. Jasper shouldn't be expected to carry the brunt of Lilith's training for an indefinite period of time without a break. Carlisle nodded to me in thanks as Esme gasped. She was losing all of her 'children' at once, and looked none too pleased at this revelation, brief though the separation might be in relation to our lifespan.

Truth be told, I wanted some time away from the settlement proper for a couple of reasons. It was time for a little solitude, now that the colony was established and the biggest threat to its safety eliminated; I was looking forward to not hearing quite so many voices in my mind for a while, and also for the opportunity to explore what else I might be capable of on this new world that I couldn't do on Earth.

"So is this what Lilith has become? Is she a vampire, like you?" Captain Bates leaned forward, bracing himself on the table in front of him, peering more closely at Lilith and then looking around at the rest of us. Lilith's gaze flicked to Carlisle, then to me in question.

"No... she is _like_ us in many ways, but she is not of the same species. I suppose you could consider her as a vampire, given her new diet. But she is not immortal, and has several other important differences as well." Carlisle tented his fingers. "There's so much we still don't know and will need to learn through Lilith, since we knew Liri for only a relatively brief period of time, at the end of her lifespan. These next few months should prove interesting."

Jasper spoke up then. "We will move a good distance away from the main settlement but will stay in contact, and will be running supplies and information back and forth. Depending on how long it takes for Lilith to become accustomed to her new life, we may be absent for only a few months – or a couple of years."

I nodded and added, "I'll probably be doing most of the running back and forth. My other big task while we are away will be exploring more of what happened when I... did what I did to Pantheon, and what else I can do now. What it may mean. I can't do that around a lot of people for safety's sake." I squeezed Bella's hand as I said that and she smiled at me again, her other hand coming up to brush my cheek soothingly.

"I'll make sure you stay safe, love. No one will get hurt," she said softly. She knew I was worried about this.

Carlisle's eyes gleamed. "I wish I could be with you while you work this out. But we will not be far from you, and you know I'm always available to talk should you need it, Son."

"I know. Thanks, Carlisle." I stood, and everyone else stood with me. "It seems the time for talking is done. It's time to get ready to leave." Jasper nodded in agreement, and left the room with Alice to prepare.

Esme came up and enveloped Bella and me in a hug. "I'm really going to miss you two... I knew Jasper and Alice were going to go with Lilith, but I didn't realize you'd have to go too." We embraced her in return for a time, then stepped back.

"I'm very sorry, Esme. This is the way it has to be. It won't be forever, though, and we'll be in touch." I knew this was going to be hard on her.

"I know, it's just... you two have always been around, since Bella changed. You've never gone far, and stayed away..." her voice trailed off, and if she could have wept, I knew she would be doing it now. Bella hugged her again, and the two of them stayed together for a bit while Carlisle and I moved away to speak together with the Captain. Lilith hesitantly moved to join us as well.

"We'll leave tonight, bringing only enough to set up camp. Once we're established somewhere, I'll let you know where and run supplies over."

"Which direction do you think you'll head?" the Captain asked curiously.

"North," I answered. "Pantheon was settled somewhere in that direction, and we'd like to find where exactly; there's probably much we can learn from his nest." Carlisle nodded with interest.

_So we're walking, I assume?_ Lilith piped up for the first time.

I grinned, amused. _No, little one, we'll be running,_ I answered adding, _I hope you can keep up._

_Little one??_ she was miffed. _And are you challenging me?_

_Yes, I suppose that I am._

Carlisle chuckled, and the Captain looked at him oddly. "Sorry. Lilith was just wondering how they're going to get where they're going. My son was being... impudent." He laughed then and clapped me on the back. "Let me help you pack up at least, even if I can't accompany you." We all headed out the door then.

That night, five forms streaked across the red desert sands, striking out from the main settlement and heading North across the dunes. A new leg of our journey had begun.

**So what do you think they'll find in Pantheon's nest? many discoveries ahead!!**

**Please let me know what you think!!**


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